No Turning Back
by Hubacha
Summary: After joining the Death Eaters, and hiding out at Malfoy Manor for almost a year, Ginny is determined to go back to Hogwarts, no matter what Draco says. But it that really a good idea? Sequel to Allied Enemies.
1. Are you scared?

**AN: After several people asked me to write this, I've returned with the sequel to "Allied Enemies" (if you haven't read it yet, you probably should, there's a link on my bio) This begins almost a year after Allied Enemies ends, and it continues from the last ending I wrote, in which Ginny remains on Voldemort's side (sorry for all the alternate endings, I just wanted everyone to be happy with the ending). **

**I personally prefer this one to the first, I think my writing's improved. Please review and let me know what you think, even if you think it's the worst thing you've ever read. Thanks for reading! **

'Why do you have to be such a fucking bastard all the time?' Ginny demanded, standing up so violently that the chair was thrown backwards.

'Stop acting like a child.' Draco calmly rested his knife and fork on the edge of his plate.

'Stop treating me like one!'

'I don't understand why you even want to go back there.' He leant back in his chair, watching Ginny as she glared back at him.

'I just want to get away from _here_.' Ginny gestured around her. She had been staying at Malfoy Manor since the previous October – it was now September. It wouldn't have been too bad if she had been allowed out more often, but Draco had only permitted her to leave the Manor a handful of times to buy clothes, books and other things to keep her occupied, and even then she had to shop at muggle shops. Not only that, but Draco had hardly even been there himself, spending most of his time out. She wasn't certain what he did – he always avoided answering her questions about it – but she suspected it was to do with Voldemort.

The Dark Lord had been victorious, doing everything Draco had told Harry he would so long ago. Ginny hadn't experienced any difference herself, but she found out what she could from reading the Daily Prophet. The first couple of months had been devoted to purging the wizarding world of anyone dangerous to Voldemort's rule; every news story told of a murder, an arrest or a 'mysterious disappearance.'

By the third month most people were too scared or too resigned to fight him anymore. The shocking news stories and panic died down to a quiet fear and submission. It was only then that Ginny was sure Voldemort had won.

'You can't just keep me captive here,' Ginny pointed an accusatory finger at him. 'I'm not your hostage anymore.'

Draco was on his feet now, and moving towards her. 'Stop shouting at me,' he ordered.

Ginny was tempted to back away, but she stood her ground and uttered, 'Then let me go back. I'm technically still a student there.'

'Ginny,' Draco's voice was even, 'I've said no. Everyone will hate you there anyway, except perhaps the Slytherins. I mean, despite being a Weasley and a Gryffindor,' he sneered, 'you did help kill Potter.'

'I don't care who hates me.'

'You wouldn't be able to handle it.'

'You managed it.'

'You're not me.'

Ginny's eyes narrowed. 'Are you trying to protect me, Draco? You know that's not a good idea.'

Draco raised his eyebrows. 'Is that meant to be a threat?'

'Why, are you scared?' she smirked.

Lowering his voice and moving closer, Draco murmured, 'Here's a real threat: if you don't shut up about Hogwarts and go upstairs to bed, then I really will start treating you like a prisoner. You have nowhere else to go, remember?'

Ginny clenched her fists and stared back fiercely into his eyes. It made her even angrier that he was right. Trying to look dignified, she turned and started to walk towards the door. Before she could get far, however, long fingers were wrapped tightly around her wrist, forcing her to stop.

'Oh, and another thing…' Draco leaned his head over Ginny's shoulder.

Her heart sped up even more as his breath tickled her ear and his chest was pressed against her back. She kept her stare fixed in front of her even as his lips brushed her ear.

'Never,' he said, his voice barely more than a whisper, 'tell _me_ what I can and can't do, Weasley.' He added her last name on at the end, his voice bitter, and she knew he meant it as an insult.

She refused to turn to face him, choosing instead to stare straight ahead at the door into the hall. She didn't move, even when he kissed her neck, his hand still gripping her wrist possessively, and reminded her – almost mockingly - than he loved her.

When he released her, she strode from the room, doing her best to ignore the urge to run.

* * *

The next day began with a beautiful, crisp autumn morning and there was a slight mist on the horizon. Light streamed through the window, spilling over the room and onto Ginny, who had been sitting on her bed reading through the article about Hogwarts again. She had calmed down since the previous evening, and during her sleepless night her anger had turned to determination. Suddenly, she stood up and strode decisively towards Draco's room. After knocking on the door while opening it, she glanced around the room to find that he wasn't in there. She was about to leave when she heard the hiss of water from the bathroom and realised he must be having a shower. Walking across the room quietly, she hesitated for a moment with her hand on the door, before shrugging and opening it. She may as well tell him now while she was so full of conviction.

Steam billowed around her as pushed it open, the hot humid air of the bathroom contrasting with the cold air of the bedroom. She leant back against the doorframe and announced loudly, trying to be heard over the rush of water, 'I've decided not to take no for an answer.' She looked down at the newspaper in her hand, resisting the urge to look towards the shower. She could see in the corner of her eye that it was clouded glass anyway, and misted up from the steam as well. Not that she was disappointed or anything.

The loud sounds of running water suddenly stopped as Draco turned the shower off. 'Ginny,' he called calmly, 'what are you doing in here?'

'I came to tell you that I've decided not to take no for an answer,' she repeated.

'Oh, thanks for letting me know.' The shower was turned on again.

After a pause, Ginny frowned and turned her head to look towards him without thinking. That wasn't the reaction she was expecting – did he not understand her? She was right, the glass was clouded. Like the glass in her own shower. But she could still she the silhouette of the back of his body which was facing away from her. She dragged her eyes back to the paper and asked, 'So I can go?'

'No.'

'I just said I wasn't going to accept no.'

'Oh,' Draco replied. 'In that case: absolutely not, over my dead body, not a chance in hell, not even if you paid me, never. Any of those better?'

'None of those really work for me either.' Ginny began to flick through the rest of the paper, noticing how the humid air caused the corners of the pages to curl slightly.

Draco smiled a little at her persistence, rinsing the last of the conditioner out of his hair and turning off the shower. 'I know it's going to be hard for you, Ginny,' he pushed his soaking hair out of his eyes, 'but can you avert your eyes while I get a towel?'

'I'll try,' came the reply.

Draco slid the shower door open and stepped out, shivering a little as the rush of cool air hit his skin. As he tugged a towel off the towel rack he glanced over to Ginny with a smile. She was leaning against the doorframe, casually reading the paper as if it was perfectly normal for her to be in the bathroom while he was showering. After briefly drying himself he wrapped the towel around his waist and said, 'Your innocence is safe now.'

'Oh good,' Ginny replied, but she didn't look up from the paper until he was next to her, waiting for her to move so he could get through the door to his bedroom. She looked at him for a moment before asking, 'What?'

'You're in the way.'

'So I am. Anyway, about me going back to Hogwarts…' She didn't move and looked back to the paper. 'I thought I could get the Knight Bus to Kings Cross, but I'd need you to lend me some money as I didn't have time to get my belongings when you kidnapped me.'

Draco, who had shoved her out of the way halfway through her sentence, strode into his bedroom and remarked, 'If I lent you money, Ginny, you wouldn't be able to pay it back even if you did get your belongings back.'

'It could be a present,' Ginny suggested.

'It's irrelevant because you aren't going.'

Ginny sat down at the edge of his bed, watching him as he made his way to the wardrobe, a little distracted by his bare chest and how low the towel was on his hips. When he turned around to retrieve some clothes she couldn't help but admire his back; he had broad shoulders but a slim waist and hips which made his torso seem deliciously triangular.

He turned back around, catching her looking at him and smirking.

Trying not to blush, Ginny shuffled into the middle of the bed and turned away from him so he could get changed. She crossed her legs beneath her and continued, 'The term starts on Monday but I suppose I could wait until Wednesday to go back if you really can't live without me.'

'Ginny, I dream of living without you, but you're not going.'

'Or,' she proposed, 'I could go back on Monday. You could always come too, Draco, if you think you'll miss me too much. They're letting some of the people from your year come back to redo their last year, seeing as you ruined it for them the first time.'

'So I've heard.'

'It'll be nice to be back there after so long. I'm looking forward to talking to someone other than you.' She smiled.

Ginny felt the mattress shift and a pair of hands found her waist. Draco leant over her shoulder to kiss her neck, his wet hair brushing her jaw line; she shivered but she wasn't certain that it was from the coldness of it. She tilted her head to the left to give him better access, feeling her mouth stretch into a smile.

'This isn't going to work,' Draco murmured into her neck. 'I'm not going to agree to this no matter how much you ignore my refusal.'

'Mmm,' Ginny replied, enjoying the vibration of him talking. Her eyes fluttered shut as he kissed his way along the sensitive skin of her neck. He moved around to her side, leaning her back gently until she was lying on the bed looking up at him. It was only now she realised he had only bothered dressing the bottom half of him before attacking her neck, and his torso was still bare.

'Please let me go,' she asked, lifting a hand to his shoulder, sliding her palm over his smooth pale skin and resting it where she could play with the hair at the nape of his neck.

'No,' he replied, a slight smirk on his face, unaffected by her pleading eyes. He leant over her, his wet hair dangling just above her face in wet strands.

She trailed her finger down from his neck to his chest and murmured, 'Well then it's time for plan B.'

'What's plan B?' He dipped his head and brushed his lips against hers briefly.

'It involves me not kissing you until you let me go.'

Draco froze.

'That sounds like a challenge,' he eventually replied.

'Only you would take it like that,' Ginny laughed. She started to sit up but Draco held her down with a hand firmly on her shoulder. When she lifted her hands to push him off her just caught one of her wrists in each hand and trapped them against the mattress. She then realised her plan was going to be much more difficult than she had originally thought.

Draco went to kiss her lips but she turned her head to the side. 'Fine,' he shrugged, bringing her wrists together and holding them both with one hand, leaving the other free to hold him up over her. 'This doesn't involve you kissing me, though.'

Shit, Ginny thought as he set to work on her neck again. She gasped when he nipped her gently and moved slowly down towards the part of her chest exposed above her shirt. She could tell that if his mouth hadn't been preoccupied right now, he would be smirking, and this thought somehow gave her the power to slip out of his grip and sit up. As she stood up from the bed, she looked back at Draco who was sitting on the bed, leaning back on one hand looking amused.

'Come to me when you're willing to let me go to Hogwarts.' She smiled, picking the newspaper up from the bed and leaving the room.


	2. A dinner party?

Over the past months Ginny had grown very grateful for Blaise Zabini – rude, annoying and egotistical as he was – as he was the only person other than Draco that she had been able to talk to. He had visited Draco frequently, often chatting to Ginny if she was in the room, and towards the more recent months he had even come over to see her while Draco was busy.

He was an odd character; he seemed the complete opposite of Draco while being exactly the same. Always playful and laidback, Blaise was rarely serious, and had the attention span of a tree. In fact, less than that, because at least trees can stay in the same place for a long time, while Blaise can barely manage half an hour. He was always flirting and making inappropriate comments, and said whatever came into his head – which regularly got him into trouble. In this way, he was the opposite of Draco, whose every word was considered and calculated before being said, and who was practically the definition of serious. But in many ways they were also the same. They both considered themselves superior to most people, and habitually insulted people (although Draco's always seemed to have less serious consequences, because at least he thought about it a little before doing it). Blaise was also involved in the Dark Lord – not as much as Draco, though – as both his parents were Death Eaters. Ginny was almost surprised when she discovered this, but she had suspected it anyway, due to him being best friends with Draco. Also, Draco had told her once that although it took a lot to anger Blaise enough for him to care, he was very dangerous. He hadn't gone into any detail, but Ginny could imagine.

The first time Ginny met Blaise was shortly after Hogwarts had been closed, when he came to visit Draco. He had called Draco a 'boring sod' when he declined Blaise's offer of going out and getting pissed to celebrate, and Ginny knew instantly he must be a very close friend of Draco if he was able to get away with a comment like that.

The second time she had spoken to him, however, was when he was uncharacteristically serious. He was bringing the news to Draco that his father had been killed. He had made Draco promise not to cry (which triggered the sharp response, 'Malfoy's don't cry, Blaise, don't be ridiculous') and looked almost apprehensive as he murmured, 'It's your father, Draco. The Dark Lord… killed him.' When Draco had listened to all the facts, he left the room, leaving Ginny to talk to Blaise. It was in this first one on one conversation - when Blaise told her that Draco should be pleased, really, as he now owned the whole Manor and could have awesome parties - that Ginny decided Blaise wouldn't be a good person to invite to a funeral.

So when she came downstairs a couple of mornings after she had told Draco her plan, she didn't wonder why Blaise was at the breakfast table when she got there. She sat down beside him, giggling a little when he leaned over and asked in a whisper why Draco was in such a bad mood. 'It's a long story,' she waved away the question, just as Draco appeared at the door.

'Could I have a word, Blaise?' Draco requested.

'Sure,' Blaise replied, picking up a croissant and leaning back in his chair.

'I meant,' Draco said as if Blaise was stupid, 'out here.'

'Oh!' Blaise seemed to understand. 'Excuse me one moment, Ginny, try not to miss me too much.'

'I'll try not to,' Ginny mumbled with a mouthful of toast, so her words were barely understandable. She didn't miss Draco's disapproving look; of course, she thought, Malfoy's would never talk with their mouths full.

'I'm flattered, really,' Blaise said once they were in the hall and out of earshot, 'but I can't be your boyfriend, Draco.'

'Shut up. Have you mentioned the dinner party?'

Blaise leaned back against the wall. 'Nope. I thought you should break the news to her.'

'This is a bad idea.' Draco ran a hand through his hair. 'She's not right for this kind of thing; she'll make a bad impression. Maybe she should just stay in her room.'

Laughing at the idea, Blaise pointed out, 'I'm sure they'll all want to meet her. Anyway, she might enjoy it.'

Draco raised an eyebrow in reply.

'Yeah, she's going to hate it,' Blaise conceded, 'but she's going to have to get used to it, there will be more to come. She's one of us now; she's got to learn to fit in.'

'I know, I know. She's already annoyed at me; I'm worried she'll deliberately do something stupid for revenge.'

'Any specific reason or is it just because you're a twat?'

Draco glared at him. 'I won't let her go back to Hogwarts.'

'Bloody hell, Draco, you may as well just take her wand away from her.' Blaise started walking around the hall and asked, 'So you think she's going to refuse to go to this dinner party?'

Draco scoffed, 'She'll do what I tell her too.'

'Good luck with that,' Blaise said while inspecting the portrait of a distant relative of Draco's hung on the wall, the subject of which looked back at him disdainfully. 'Anyway, we should go back in before she gets too suspicious.'

Nodding, Draco moved to the door, but before he went in he said, 'Don't mention Hogwarts, she'll never shut up.'

'I won't,' Blaise promised, rolling his eyes, and followed Draco into the room.

Ginny looked up as they came in. 'Did you boys have a nice heart to heart?'

'Lovely, thanks.' Blaise sat down beside her again. There was a short silence which Blaise broke with, 'So Ginny, looking forward to going back to Hogwarts?'

Draco threw his hands in the air and exclaimed, 'What the hell is wrong with you, Zabini?'

'I'm sorry!' Blaise replied, flustered. 'I just can't handle silences!'

Ginny, who was glaring at Draco, told Blaise, 'I'm not allowed, my prison guard won't let me.'

'Great, now look what you've done,' Draco accused Blaise, gesturing to Ginny.

'Do you think it's reasonable for him to stop me from going to school, Blaise?' Ginny enquired.

'Shut up, Ginny,' Draco said with a sigh. 'While you're already in a bad mood, I may as well tell you now that there's a dinner party here tomorrow night and you're expected to attend.'

There was a silence during which Ginny stared at Draco. Eventually she echoed, 'A dinner party?'

'Yes.'

'Why?'

'It's a celebration of the new and improved Hogwarts being opened,' Blaise offered, cheerily.

Ginny turned to Blaise and repeated, 'A dinner party?'

Draco spoke with annoyance, 'Yes, you cretin, a dinner party. I'm aware you probably couldn't afford a table at your house, let alone cutlery, plates and friends, but you're acting like I've just announced we're going to the moon.'

Ginny just stared back at him in stunned silence.

'Anyway, my family's tailor will be here later today to measure you for your dress and -'

'Dress?'

'- and then this evening we'll go through who's going to be here and how you should act. Stop looking at me like that, Ginny, it makes you even less attractive.'

'Are you joking?' Ginny demanded. 'I'm not going to hang out with your creepy Death Eater friends. And you're certainly not doing to teach me how to act.'

Draco stood up and said authoritatively, 'Get over yourself, you are one of my "creepy Death Eater friends". Blaise, try to calm her down. I'll see you both later.'

After he left the room, there was a long pause until Ginny turned to Blaise and mouthed incredulously, 'A dinner party?'

'I don't know why you're so surprised,' Blaise commented. 'Draco's upper class. He has dinner parties; he's been taught how to act around his superiors; he speaks French and plays the piano.'

'Really? The piano?'

'Yeah, his mother made him. He's been playing since he was six, he's really good. I always told him he should use it as an easy way to get girls, but he doesn't like people to know.'

'I saw the piano,' Ginny mused, 'but I didn't think people actually played it, I just thought it was something rich people have.'

'Nope. He may be a bastard, but he's a Malfoy. He's been raised as a gentleman,' Blaise paused to yawn. 'You know, the whole holding doors open for ladies and respecting his elders.'

Ginny looked at him like he was insane. 'Draco doesn't do that.'

Blaise shrugged. 'He only does it to people he thinks deserve it. He would never to it to anyone inferior to him. Just wait until you see him at this dinner party.'

'By the sounds of it, it'll be too much for me to handle,' Ginny said, while fiddling with the crumbs on her plate. 'I might have a heart attack.'

'If you did he would never forgive you, it would be very embarrassing for him.'

Ginny grimaced as she imagined the horrors that she faced the next day.

'It's just a dinner party,' Blaise tried to comfort her.

'Yeah, you really have no idea…'

**AN: Please review! Here's a snippet from the next chapter:**

_'Trust me, Ginny, you're not that hard to resist,' he said smoothly. 'I'm sure I'll manage.'_

_Suddenly Ginny could feel his warmth on her back and she could tell he had moved very close to her. _

_She turned her head so she could meet his eye and smiled. 'Shouldn't be too hard.'_

_His breath tickled her neck as he murmured, 'But the question is, will you be able to resist me?'_


	3. You're not that hard to resist

'Don't come in,' Ginny ordered Draco, who had just knocked on the door of her bedroom.

'Why?' he asked from the other side.

'Because I don't really want to see you.'

With a sigh, Draco opened the door to see Ginny lying on her front on the bed, flicking through the paper.

'I said, don't come in,' Ginny reminded him.

'And I did anyway. Is there anything else you would like to tell me that I already know?'

'Yes, actually: you're a knob.' Ginny still hadn't looked up at him.

Draco smiled a little at this, standing in silence for a moment before grabbing the paper from where it lay on the bed.

'Hey!' Ginny protested, sitting up and moving to the edge of the bed. 'I was reading that.'

'You must know it off my heart by now,' Draco stated as he looked at the photo of Hogwarts on the front page.

'I'm just reminding myself of what it looks like in preparation for when I return.'

'Do you want me to get a frame for it? You should treasure it because it's the closest you'll ever get to going back.'

Ginny laughed and stood up, taking the paper from his hands. 'You sound very sure about that.'

'I am very sure about that.'

'Well,' Ginny shrugged and turned away from him to place the paper back on the bed, 'you probably remember how I'm going to punish you for not letting me go. I'm sure you'll give in eventually.'

'Trust me, Ginny, you're not that hard to resist,' he said smoothly. 'I think I'll manage.'

Suddenly Ginny could feel his warmth on her back and she could tell he had moved very close to her.

His breath tickled her neck as he murmured, 'But the question is, will you be able to resist me?'

She turned her head so she could meet his eye and smiled. 'Shouldn't be too hard.'

'Because, you know,' Draco continued, placing his hands on her waist and slowly turning her around so her body faced him as well as her face, 'if you give in first and kiss me, then you lose and you have to stay here.'

'I suppose that's logical,' she agreed, her head tilted up so she could look at him; they were so close he seemed even taller than usual. When he leaned his head forwards slightly she stepped back, but this seemed to be what he wanted judging by his smirk. She felt him gently guide her backwards further until she felt the cool wall against her back.

'This isn't going to work,' she told him, her voice shaking towards the end of the sentence due to him running two fingers along her jaw line to her chin. He laughed softly at how unconvincing she sounded.

'You can't want to go back to Hogwarts more than you want me,' he said, his voice barely more than a whisper.

Ginny smiled as she replied, 'Much, much more.'

Draco's head snapped around to look at the door when someone opened it.

'Hey losers, the… oh, so this is why you left me downstairs to be bored on my own,' Blaise accused.

'Shut up, Blaise, it's not like I invited you anyway,' Draco said, catching Ginny's eye before stepping away from her. 'Anyway, what do you want?'

'Just letting you know the tailor's here.'

'Oh, send her in.'

'I'm not a house elf,' Blaise grumbled as he stepped back through the door to let the tailor in. Draco could just hear him mumbling about how unappreciated he was as his footsteps faded.

The tailor was a witch who appeared to be in her early forties, with wispy, light brown hair clipped up on the back of her head and a very long, fitted robe. The only words she spoke to Ginny were instructions such as, 'Arms up, please'. Apart from that she rarely said anything at all, which was fine by Ginny, as the woman had a stern, thin-lipped look on her face that suggested she wouldn't be very fun to talk to anyway.

Using charmed tape measures which wrapped themselves around various parts of Ginny's body, the tailor recorded the measurements on a piece of parchment. Draco stayed in the room while this was going on; he sat in the wooden chair next to the desk, explaining who would be at the dinner party.

'My aunt, Bellatrix Lestrange, will be there of course,' he was saying.

'Oh, I'm looking forward to seeing her,' Ginny muttered sarcastically. 'I'm sure she'll be a pleasure to spend the evening with.'

'I take it you've heard of her then.'

Ginny raised an eyebrow. 'Heard of her? I've met her.'

'When?' Draco frowned.

'At the end of fourth year. Actually,' Ginny added, 'this whole dinner party will be a lovely reunion for me.'

'Oh yeah, shit, I'd forgotten about that little escapade at the Ministry.'

Ginny smirked. 'Do you think they'll be pleased to see me again?'

'This makes things a little more complicated,' Draco murmured, ignoring her comment. 'Why were you stupid enough to fall for that, anyway? Or you could have at least just let Potter go on his own, then we wouldn't have this problem.'

'Well if he had gone on his own, then – ow! Do you have to pull the measuring tape so tight? Anyway, if he had gone on his own he probably would have died back then and we wouldn't be in this situation at all.'

'Plus, I would never have had to spend time with you. Sounds like it would have been better all round.'

'Sorry,' Ginny said with a laugh. 'Next time I'll be a coward and not help out my friend.'

'What is it with Gryffindors and trying to be noble? You did it, Harry did it, and it didn't get either of you anywhere.'

'You're Slytherin, I don't expect you to understand,' Ginny said, mocking his condescending tone.

Draco picked up a book from her desk and studied the back as he said, 'Well, tonight I expect you to look, and act, like a Slytherin.'

'I don't think two hours is enough time to make me that ugly, Draco, sorry.'

'In fact,' Draco ignored her, 'I expect you to look and act like a Malfoy. Apart from your hideous hair colour, of course, that can't be helped. Have you finished reading this?'

'Yeah,' Ginny replied, smiling at the tailor who had now finished measuring her; she didn't smile back. The charmed measuring tapes rolled themselves up and returned to her waiting hand. The witch then proceeded to pull large bits of fabric from her bag – which must have had some kind of charm on it because it couldn't have been big enough to fit all of it in – and began working on the dress.

'Hopefully you learnt something.' Draco dropped the book back onto the desk.

'I could learn a lot if I went back to Hogwarts,' Ginny commented casually.

'No you wouldn't.' Draco caught her eye and said seriously, 'And, of course, the Dark Lord will be there. You need to be prepared to meet him, it's really important, obviously. I don't want him to -'

'Um,' Ginny interrupted, 'I've met him too.'

'You're fucking kidding.'

'Well no, actually. Technically I met him before you did. Well, he was younger when he met me, anyway.'

Draco slowly dropped his head into his hands as the events of his second year came flooding back. How the hell had he not remembered before?

'You can't get annoyed at me for that,' Ginny waved a finger at him. 'That was his fault. I was an impressionable young girl and he tricked me.'

'No, you were an idiot.'

'He still tricked me.'

Draco was silent for a moment before asking, his head tilted to one side thoughtfully, 'So does this mean you were carrying out the Dark Lord's orders even before I was?'

'That's right.'

'You just didn't do them as successfully as I did.'

'Considering I wasn't aware of what I was doing at the time, I think I did quite well.'

Draco observed Ginny as she dropped onto the edge of the bed, her hair falling across her face as she turned her head to watch the tailor's silent work. He watched with interest her reaction as he said, 'My mother will be there too, she's coming home.'

Ginny's head snapped up at this news, and she looked at Draco with wide eyes. Her mouth opened to speak, but she stopped herself and thought carefully about what to say.

Cocking his head slightly, Draco noticed Ginny's eyes look down and realised she was trying to control her reaction. He smiled a little at her attempt – after all the times he had accused her of not being able to think before she acted, she was actually trying to. She wasn't very good though. Ginny's emotions were pretty much an open book even to those who didn't know her, but after living with her for a year Draco had learnt to pick up on even the tiny details. For example, he noted the barely noticeable crease between her eyebrows that told him she was thinking; the glimpse of white tooth biting her bottom lip was evidence that there was something she wanted to say; the fingers that had tightened a little on the edge of the bed were a sign that she was nervous.

Instead of mentioning these, he waited for her to speak.

When she did, her voice had an artificial casualness to it. 'So, does she know I'm here?'

'Undoubtedly.'

'… Does she mind?'

'Probably. You're a Weasley; this is Malfoy Manor. No matter what you've done for the Dark Lord, your family are still scum.' She shot him a glare and he added, 'I'm just telling you what she thinks.'

'Will she be angry?'

'She won't protest to you being here, but that doesn't mean she'll be friendly.'

'Malfoy's aren't famous for their friendliness anyway,' Ginny pointed out.

'Don't be judgemental of her. Imagine how your family would react if I went and stayed with them.'

Ginny laughed at the thought of how uncomfortable her family would make him feel if he ever stepped foot in their house. 'As if you would ever deign to go into our house.'

'That's beside the point.'

'Okay,' Ginny conceded, 'I can understand her not being happy about me being here. When does she arrive?'

Draco glanced up at the clock on the mantelpiece as he replied, 'About an hour before everyone else. Is that dress done yet?'

The witch in the corner, who had been so quiet Ginny had forgotten about her presence, didn't look up as she called, 'Almost finished, Master Malfoy.'

Ginny surveyed the pile of deep green fabric in the witch's hands, rolling her eyes at the colour. 'Merlin, Draco, that is so predictable.'

'Well I couldn't have let you choose, or you would have been prancing around in red,' Draco wrinkled his nose.

'No, actually,' Ginny denied. 'That would have clashed with my hair.' Inwardly she considered the fact that the green would go quite well with her hair colour, but obviously she didn't voice this realisation.

The tailor stood up, her lips twisted slightly into what could almost be a proud smile as she lifted her arms and allowed the dress to hang from her hands.

Ginny was speechless for a moment as she watched the fabric unfold. She had been expecting a dull, conservative robe, but this certainly wasn't that.

'I can't wear that,' she said breathlessly.

'Well it looks quite small and you could do with losing a couple of pounds, so it might be a bit tight but it should be fine,' Draco responded. The tailor must not have understood their banter and thought Draco was being sincere, as she looked a little offended at the idea her work would be ill-fitting.

As Ginny took the dress from the tailor, Draco stood up and made his way to the door. Just before he left, the tailor in toe, he called, 'Just put it on. I'll get ready then I'll be downstairs, come down when you're ready, my mother will probably be here by then. Try not to take too long.'

Ginny would have replied with a cutting remark, but she was preoccupied by the dress, admiring the fabric.

**AN: This might be the last update for a while; I'm going on holiday for a week on Saturday, and by the time I get back it'll be November and I have to put this on hold for a month because a) NaNoWriMo! (if you don't know what this is, get involved because it's great fun. Google it!) b)My birthday month! and c) Exams. Sorry!**

**I'll try to get another (very long) chapter up before then though, I've written a lot of it already. **

**Hope you enjoyed this chapter! Please review and let me know what you think so far. Is the characterisation okay? Is it boring or moving too slowly?**


	4. I hid it well though, didnt I?

Ginny pulled at the material of the dress as she stood in before the mirror. She tilted her head slightly as she studied the reflection. The dress was perfect, there was no doubt about that. It clung in all the right places, but draped to the floor from her hips with such elegance that no one could ever accuse it of being at all inappropriate. The cut of the dress straight across her chest and held up by thin straps – not so low as to be classless, but low enough to show off her delicate collarbone. She looked the part. That's what bothered her.

In this dress of Slytherin green, she didn't feel like a Weasley at all. Even the indicative red hair was held up in an intricate but feminine style on the back of her head – with a mixture of hairpins and magic – in a way that didn't seem like Weasley hair at all.

Thoughtfully, she pulled at one of the several thin strands of hair that were loose and spiralled in curls at her shoulders. She was about to spend a few hours dining with a group of people who would probably rather kill her than socialise with her. Of course, at the surface they would be respectful, they couldn't deny the contribution she had made to Voldemort's conquest. But beneath the civility, they would all be judging her, mocking her, scorning her. Not that she couldn't deal with that; as if she cared what they thought of her. Nevertheless, all the Weasley pride inside her, the loyalty to her family that was now buried deep inside her, screamed at her that she shouldn't have to put up with the derision that would no doubt occur. Not only that, but she should be here at all.

Seeing herself now, clad in green, dressed up for dinner with the Dark Lord, living in Malfoy Manor… she couldn't help but feel like a Malfoy. She felt a twinge of regret that this is what she was becoming. There was no turning back now.

When Ginny finally decided to make an appearance, Narcissa had already arrived. They were standing in the hallway, Draco greeting his mother after their months of separation with a polite nod and a handshake. Narcissa glanced down at Draco's outstretched hand, then back up to his face and muttered, 'You're getting more like your father every day, Draco.'

Before he could think of a reply to this statement, Draco was distracted by the clicking of high heels on marble and looked up to see Ginny making her way down the stairs. 'You took an hour to do that?' he tried to say scathingly, but his voice faltered mid-sentence which dulled its impact somewhat. After a brief cough to cover it up, he introduced the two women now standing in the hallway. 'Ginny, this is Narcissa, my mother. Mother, this is Ginerva Weasley.'

'Evidently,' Narcissa drawled, eyes focussed pointedly on Ginny's hair.

'Nice to meet you, Narcissa,' Ginny lied, wondering if she would have a problem with the use of her first name.

When Narcissa replied, telling Ginny it was a pleasure, she was clearly lying, but she made it much more obvious by the accompanying look of disdain.

Ginny, pretending not to notice this, turned to Draco with a smile. 'Sorry I took so long,' she said cheerily, wanting to rub the fact that she was a Weasley in Nacissa's face, 'I'm not used to wearing such fancy clothes; it took me a while to get used to them.'

'I suppose the Weasley budget didn't stretch to dresses,' Draco commented, his face expressionless but a glint in his eyes.

'Well no, we couldn't afford such luxuries.'

Narcissa looked disgusted. 'Shall we go to the dining room?' she suggested, walking off before either of them had time to reply.

'You shouldn't provoke her,' Draco murmured to Ginny as they followed. 'It's hard enough her having to accept having a Weasley in the house, without you hitting her over the head with it.'

'If she weren't such a snobby bitch, it wouldn't bother her,' Ginny retorted.

Draco glanced sideways at her. 'Careful what you say, Weasley. Anyway, she's not doing anything to you, so stop complaining.'

'Not doing anything openly, at least. I can tell she's judging me.'

'And you are judging her.'

'Well, yes,' Ginny admitted. 'But I'm judging her because she's unkind; she's judging me just because I'm a Weasley.'

'If you're judging her because she's unkind, then you're judging her just because she's a Malfoy.'

'You're twisting things!' Ginny exclaimed, but Draco had walked off ahead of her to join his mother as they entered the dining room. Wide eyes sweeping over the room, Ginny was awed by the dozens of candles that floated in the air above their heads. The collection of tiny flames lit up the whole room, reflecting off the windows and the glass door. The long table had more than three places laid for the first time Ginny had ever seen, in fact there must have been about ten places.

'It looks amazing,' Ginny commented, looking away from the flames to see Narcissa watching her.

The silence in the room was broken by the doorbell, which rang with two melodic chimes. Ginny inwardly braced herself for the next couple of hours – she was going to need a lot of stamina to get through this.

'Bye Blaise, thanks for existing tonight,' Ginny said with a sigh as she accompanied him to the door. She crossed her arms over her chest against the cold air that blew in when the front door was opened.

'You are very welcome, Ginervra, although I notice I'm not special enough to be escorted to the door by Mr Malfoy and get told about how wonderful I am,' Blaise replied, with mock indignation.

'He doesn't need to suck up to you,' Ginny said, laughing a little, 'you're already glad he owns this place.'

Blaise agreed with this, and just before he left he said, 'That wasn't too bad, was it?'

Shaking her head, Ginny answered, 'It could have been worse, I suppose.'

'See you later, Ginny.' He turned and began to walk down the path, and Ginny closed the door, taking a deep breath. He had been right, it hadn't been that bad – she had sat between Draco and Blaise, and had managed to keep out of the conversation until directly addressed. When this happened it was usually a poorly hidden insult or jibe, not poorly hidden because the death eaters were stupid, but because they didn't want their malice to pass her by. And she had definitely noticed. However, it was not the time or place to get defensive, so she had just been as polite as she could.

In one of the tamest incidents, quite early on in the meal, one of the death eaters, a female, commented to her, 'It must be nice for you, staying in such a lovely house. But then again most places must seem lovely compared to what you're used to.'

Ginny's instinct had been to retort with a sharp remark or use one of her varied expletives, but instead she had just agreed that yes, it was nice, and certainly very different to how she had lived at home.

Nevertheless, Ginny could assure herself that it was an amazing achievement to even be there, sitting at dinner in Malfoy Manor, eating with the Dark Lord and his Death Eaters. She may be at the receiving end of some scathing comments, but she had had worse, and she knew that they had to accept her, after what she had done for them.

Hearing the front door close, Malfoy looked up as Ginny entered the room. He was sitting in an armchair, a glass of firewhiskey in one hand, the other resting on the arm of the chair.

Narcissa stood up from where she sat on a sofa, and stated, 'That was surprisingly successful, Draco. I think I will go to bed now, it's quite late.'

Malfoy wished her goodnight, and didn't miss her glance at Ginny as she passed her on her way to the door.

Once she had gone, he turned his gaze back to Ginny. She pulled out a couple of hairpins and waved her wand over her head. The complex pile of hair didn't collapse as Draco had expected it to, but rather, as the charms left one by one, strands of hair tumbled down from the top of her head to coil at her delicate shoulders. One particular strand held Draco's attention as it dropped onto her shoulder before falling further down to rest on the curve of her collarbone. As she shook her head just a tiny bit, they fell faster until all her hair hung either side of her face in gleaming waves and curls.

As she made her way towards the nearest armchair, the dress sweeping over the floor behind her giving the impression that she was floating across the ground, her red locks caught the light of the burning torches and glimmered with strands of bronze and gold. Dainty fingers curled over the ends of the arms of the aristocratic chair as she sank into it. She breathed a sigh. The elegant curve of her neck was emphasised as she leant her head against the back of the chair, a spattering of freckles highlighted against the fair skin on her shoulder. The deep green satin of the dress slid away from her leg as she gracefully crossed it over the other, revealing her foot dressed in a black shoe with an intimidating heel.

Draco's fingers tightened on the glass in his hand as his eyes travelled over her once more – from the shoe that now hung from her toes as if she were about to let it drop to the floor, over the curvature of her calf, past the emerald coloured fabric that clung to her figure and up to her eyes which were just fluttering shut from drowsiness.

When he took a deep breath he didn't expect it to be as shaky as it was.

She had never looked so sexy.

'Wow,' she said, giving him a slow smile. 'Surprisingly successful. I get the feeling that's high praise, coming from her?'

'We expected it to go much worse than it did,' he replied, looking down into his drink. 'I expected you to hex someone, for a start.'

'Why would I hex when I can silently fume?' Ginny asked, jokingly.

'It must have been hard to restrain yourself, though. When someone suggested that you would steal the silverware, I swear I saw your eye twitch.'

Ginny laughed and Draco couldn't help but look up at her.

'I hid it well though, didn't I?' Ginny grinned at him. 'I hope you appreciate how I took all that abuse with a smile for you.'

'You didn't do it for me,' Draco replied, a small smile stretching his lips.

'Oh didn't I? Can I have a bit of that firewhiskey?' She nodded at the glass in his hand.

'Nope.'

'Oh come on, that's exactly what I need.' She stood up, striding towards him, and put her hands on her hips when he shook his head. 'Please? Just a sip.'

She took hold of the glass, her fingers touching his and he relented, just to end the skin contact. 'Fine,' he said with a sigh. 'A small sip. That's not a sip! I didn't agree to you downing the whole thing.'

'Relax, just fill it up again,' she giggled, handing the glass back to him.

He rolled his eyes and got to his feet, looking back at Ginny who was standing about half a metre away from him.

'These shoes are killing me,' she groaned, leaning over to unfasten the straps around the ankles. Draco watched her silently as she did this, unable to take his eyes off her delicate fingers as they brushed against her ankles, her dress slightly lifted up so she could access them. She kicked the shoes aside, looking up at him from her usual height with a smile.

'It makes my normal height seem quite short,' she remarked.

'You are quite short.'

'Only in comparison to you,' she replied, cheerily.

Draco paused, looking back at her thoughtfully. Eventually, he asked, 'Why are you being so cheerful? You're not usually like this, even when you haven't been maliciously mocked for a few hours.'

'I'm maliciously mocked by you all the time.'

'Answer the question.'

Ginny rolled her eyes. When after a few seconds he hadn't moved or said anything, she must have realised she had to give an answer, and she said quietly, 'It's the only way of stopping myself from… well, I know it would be a lot easier to cry right now, but I'm being optimistic because it's the only way to stop it getting to me. So can you just go along with it please?'

Draco didn't reply to this. He reached out, taking one of her curled strands of hair in his fingers, feeling the softness against his skin. Unable to stop himself anymore, he took another step towards her and kissed her lips, one hand stroking her cheek and the other sliding around her waist and pulling her closer.

**AN: I'm back! And with a long chapter, I hope it was worth the read. Please review and tell me what you think of the story/characterisation/my writing so far!**


	5. We're going back to Hogwarts

Ginny couldn't help but gasp a little when he suddenly kissed her. She had almost forgotten what his kisses felt like. Almost. But now, with his lips on hers and his hands on her back, it all came flooding back. He had obviously missed her too, as he kissed her with a passion she hadn't experienced from him before. One hand was cupping her jaw as he tilted her head back, while the other was on the small of her back, pulling her against him.

She pulled back a little; she was still so close he could feel his lips against her own grinning ones.

'You know what this means, don't you?' she whispered.

'It means there are much better things you could be doing with your mouth than talking,' he breathed back, moving forward to kiss her again but she pulled away again.

'It means you're going to let me go back to Hogwarts.'

Draco's reply to this was to kiss her again, but this time she pushed him away from her with a little more force.

'Doesn't it?' she asked, searching for confirmation, but all she saw as her eyes scanned his face was the opposite. She could see his chest move up and down with his heavy breaths.

Eventually, he muttered, 'You're not going back there.'

As she turned to leave, he reached out, grabbing her wrist and making her spin back around to face him. 'Don't do this,' he said, his voice soft but commanding. 'Don't get angry. You know I have my reasons.'

'I'm not a fucking prisoner.'

'For all they know, that's exactly what you are.'

Ginny glared back at him, her heart racing with fury. There was a barely noticeable crease between Draco's eyebrows – but it wasn't a frown, it wasn't anger… he almost looked regretful.

'Fine,' she snapped. 'I'll go to my room like a good little prisoner.'

She snatched her wrist out of his grip and stormed out of the room, and although he called her name, he made no move to stop her.

*

It wasn't until dinner the next evening that Ginny spoke to Draco again. After Draco had asked her to pass the jug of water and she had done it without even looking at him, he had snapped, 'Ginny, stop ignoring me, you're being such a child.'

'I'm not ignoring you,' Ginny replied, 'I just don't have anything to say to you.'

'I'm not going to apologise,' Draco stated. 'I've explained myself and I don't have anything to apologise for.'

'What did you do, Draco?' Narcissa asked, causing Ginny to look up. She watched Draco looking back at his mother, clearly thinking over in his head what to say.

'Ginny wants to go back to Hogwarts, and I don't think it's a good idea.'

Narcissa made a disapproving noise that could have been described as a snort if Malfoy's did anything as undignified as snorting. 'It's not like she needs to go back there.'

Ginny inwardly rolled her eyes at the way she talked as if Ginny wasn't even in the room.

'Granted, it has improved a lot since they got rid of that ridiculous Dumbledore,' Narcissa continued, 'and I'm sure Severus is a fine headmaster.'

'It's not really a matter of the quality of the school though, mother,' Draco interjected, but she ignored him.

'And now they're got rid of a lot of those mudbloods it's a much more respectable place. Although,' she regarded Ginny with a judging look, 'I suppose you're a Gryffindor. Better to stay here than be subjected to their company again.'

'They would hate you anyway,' Draco pointed out to Ginny.

'Oh, goodness, yes,' Narcissa exclaimed. 'I can't imagine how I would react if Draco abandoned me for the Weasleys. I dread to think.' She shuddered a little, as if the thought was too horrific to bear.

Ginny pushed the food on her plate around with her fork, trying to contain her anger. She wanted to hex Draco for being such a stubborn bastard, but in present company that was probably a bad idea.

'Or is it your education you're worried about?' Narcissa asked, not waiting for an answer before continuing, 'I mean, I don't doubt that you could do with a few lessons, but you may as well have them from Draco. Although, there's only so much teaching you can do; really it comes down to natural ability and I don't expect that you're… overflowing with that, judging by your ancestry.'

Ginny suddenly got to her feet, the chair almost toppling over from her speed. 'Look, Draco, I don't really care if they hate me, and I don't care if I won't learn anything, it shouldn't be your choice whether I go back. And Mrs Malfoy, I don't mean to be rude but shut the fuck up. Last night I took all your abuse and snide comments for Draco's sake, and because I didn't want to cause trouble, but why the hell should I? I don't have to take this from you, or anyone. I've already joined the Dark Lord, what more do you want me to do? I'm not going to try and impress you, because, frankly, I don't care.' She stormed off towards the door, but just before she left, she turned back and snapped, 'and actually, I'm not bad at magic; I'm very good at magic. So shut up.'

After Ginny slammed the door behind her, Draco and his mother sat in silence for a couple of moments. Until Narcissa commented, decisively, 'I like her.'

*

Once in her room, Ginny threw herself onto the bed, fuming. As the green linen material bunched around her, she was reminded even more of Hogwarts. She missed red.

She shuffled back until she could lean against the wooden headboard, sitting on a pillow. Reaching over to the bedside table, she picked up the Daily Prophet that lay there. It was from a few days ago, the front cover showing a picture of Hogwarts itself, the only sign of movement being the gently swaying trees that surrounded it, and the clouds that glided slowly through the sky. The picture accompanied the main story – the reopening of Hogwarts.

After Voldemort had ordered the death of Dumbledore, and the school suffered a series of muggle-born killings, a lot of students had been pulled out by their parents. By the time Voldemort had fully risen to power, most of the students had been withdrawn, and Hogwarts had closed.

Now, after almost 11 months, it had been reopened for the next school year.

Ginny desperately wanted to return there. Of course, it would be different in many ways. For one thing Snape was the headmaster, Hagrid had gone and some of the lessons had been changed (for example, "Defence Against the Dark Arts" had become simply "the Dark Arts" and Muggle Studies had been abolished completely). Also, since the students had missed out on almost a full year of lessons and exams, the previous seventh years were given the opportunity to return for another year to take their final exams. This meant that Ginny, who was due to go into her seventh year now, would be sharing lessons with some of the year above her.

Oh, and of course, everyone would hate her.

Except the Slytherins.

As Draco's words echoed in her head, anger flared inside her again. How dare he stop her from going to school? All she could do here was eat, sleep, sit, practise Quidditch, study the many Dark Arts books given to her and argue with Draco. She felt herself going more insane each day.

Decisively, Ginny stood up and tugged the green duvet off the bed. After throwing it behind her, she leant over the bed and removed the white sheet that covered the mattress, and then laid it out on the floor. Carelessly, she tossed various clothes and belongings into a heap on the sheet, then took the corners and tied the material up around the pile. She spread the green duvet out over the bed again, glancing around the room to check she hadn't forgotten anything.

Now all she had to do was get out without Draco noticing.

An idea struck her and she hurried to the window which overlooked the garden. She threw open the window, leaning her head out and smiling when she spotted the small wooden hut in which the Malfoys kept their brooms. She considered taking Draco's old Comet 260 which he had let her use for Quidditch practice, but she decided on taking his brand new, top-of-the-range Tempest. She laughed softly as she imagined what his reaction would be.

'Accio Tempest!' she called out of the window, praying that Draco wouldn't see the broom break through the wooden door and float up to her waiting hand. Levitating the sheet-wrapped bundle of belongings out of the window, she cast a spell on it to make it almost weightless and tied it to the back of the broomstick.

Just before she climbed out onto the broom herself, she turned to the bed with a sly smile. Muttering the spell, she turned the green duvet red. After all, Draco needed something to remember her by.

*

Draco got up from the table, having completely lost his appetite, and made his way towards the door. He strode up the stairs, intent on talking to Ginny, although he knew she wouldn't make it easy for him. Deliberately not knocking, just to remind her that it was his house, he opened her bedroom door.

'Ginny,' he began to say, but stopped dead in his tracks when he saw the room was empty, and that on the bed were rumpled sheets, not green, but deep red. A blast of cold air made him aware of the open window, and as he approached it, movement from outside caught his eye. He stopped, looking out into the garden, where the sun was setting behind the trees. A redheaded girl with a white bundle and a broom was soaring towards the horizon.

He smiled a little – he hadn't expected anything else. In fact, he was surprised she hadn't left earlier. Actually, he'd expected her to just apparate at the end of the garden, but taking the Comet 260 made more sense for someone who wasn't very confident apparating.

His smile vanished. From the silver handle he could tell that wasn't the Comet 260.

'Bitch,' he whispered, impressed.

*

The feelings of victory and freedom kept Ginny satisfied until Malfoy Manor was barely a dot on the horizon – then she realised she had no idea how to get to Hogwarts. It was notoriously difficult to find even for a witch or wizard, and the sun was already setting. On top of that, she was clueless as to where Malfoy Manor was, she could only assume it was somewhere in England.

She could apparate – she had had a few lessons the previous year before she had been taken to the Manor, and had been quite successful – but she wasn't confident doing it, especially over a potentially large distance.

Could she take the Knight Bus? No, she didn't have any money.

Why didn't she just floo? That would have been a much better idea, she thought, berating herself inwardly. Maybe she could find somewhere else to floo from? Actually, on second thoughts, it was unlikely that flooing was still possible at Hogwarts now it was under the rule of Voldemort. He wasn't stupid. He would want to keep the students under his control.

She could feel panic beginning to bubble inside her. Her fingers gripped the broomstick more tightly as her eyes scanned over the expanse of trees around her. In the distance she saw a scattering of lights, with lines of streetlights shooting out either side. Must be a small town, she concluded as she approached.

She sighed, her breaths turning to mist in the cold; they would have clouded her vision if she wasn't flying so fast. Her only hope was to go to Kings Cross, which she knew was in London, get to platform 9¾ and follow the train track to Hogwarts.

Draco wasn't surprised when Blaise's head appeared amongst the flames; in fact, he had been sitting in the armchair opposite the fireplace, staring at the flickering fire, waiting for that very thing to happen.

'I got your owl,' Blaise said, looking up from where he hovered above the burning logs.

'Evidently,' Draco replied, placing his glass down on the table beside the chair.

'Well?' Blaise prompted.

Draco looked back at him silently for a moment, before saying, 'Ginny's gone.'

'Where?'

'Where the hell do you think?'

'Hogwarts?' Blaise exclaimed. 'Can I just come through completely? I hate kneeling.'

'No.'

Blaise stepped through the fire into the room, ignoring Draco's reply. 'When and how and why did she leave?'

'About an hour ago, she took my Tempest, the bitch. And she turned the bed sheets red.'

Blaise laughed, brushing ash off himself. 'I admire her, you know, in an odd way.'

'Shut up.'

'Come on, it's funny.'

'Well I'm glad someone thinks it is,' Draco grumbled. 'But the jokes on you because you have to suffer the consequences of her running away.'

'What consequences?' Blaise asked, suspiciously.

Draco paused for a moment, before saying, conversationally, 'So apparently they're allowing our year to come back and redo our final year and our exams.'

Blaise's eyes widened as he realised what Draco meant. 'No,' he said firmly. 'No, I've done Hogwarts, I don't have to go anymore, I don't need to.'

'Oh yes you do.'

'No I don't.'

'Zabini,' Draco snapped. 'Get your trunk, we're going back to Hogwarts.'

Blaise turned back to the fireplace, picking some floo power out of the pot on the mantelpiece and muttered, 'Fine, but I'm not doing any work.'

**

Never had Ginny been so ecstatic to see the magnificent outline of Hogwarts silhouetted against the night sky. The dazzling full moon lingered near the Gryffindor tower, a mist of cloud crossing in front of it every now and then. An exhausted smile stretched her lips as she slowed her broom and hovered in front of the castle. Her hair, which had streamed behind her as she flew, came to rest around her shoulders. Some of the stands at the front fell across her eyes, and as she brushed her hand across her face to tuck them behind her ears, she noted that her face had become slightly numb from the cold wind she had felt for hours.

As she hung in the air, she considered how best to go in. The school year had started over a week ago now, so she couldn't just slip in with the others. She had no idea what the time was, but it was September and got dark quite early, so the students might still be eating dinner.

Should she go in through the front door, and make a grand entrance? No, she decided, she didn't want to draw too much attention to herself from people who would undoubtedly hate her. She could fly up to Gryffindor tower and go in through one of the common room windows? But in this cold weather they would all be shut and she would have to rely on someone letting her in – what if they didn't?

She flew leisurely over the castle, passing through the turrets and towers to the back. An expanse of green spread out beneath her, Hagrid's hut seeming small from the height. She also recognised the Quidditch pitch, empty of course but lit by the moon. She could always go in from one of the doors on this side of the castle, she mused. As long as it wasn't after hours it would just be as if she were a student returning from a walk around the grounds. With a broom. And a bed sheet filled with belongings. Maybe not.

It was pleasant out here, perhaps she could just stay here until morning? But her eyelids were drooping from tiredness and she was exhausted from flying for so long. She was so relieved to have found this place – it was like coming home – and it had been just as difficult as she'd imagined getting here. She had had to subtly land at the edge of the town and hidden her belongings with a spell before searching for a local to get directions from. After a short while she had found a kindly lady with two young children in tow who had hesitated before answering which way was London was.

'Well to go by train,' she had begun before being interrupted by Ginny who explained she didn't need to know how to get there, just literally which direction it was in. The lady had then answered, a confused frown on her face, that it was that way, she supposed, about a hundred miles that way. Thanking the lady profusely, Ginny had returned to her broom and flown in said direction until she came across a mass of lights and buildings that must have been London.

Unfortunately, by the time she got there it was quite dark and it was much more difficult in London to find the type of kindly ladies with children who were willing to help her than in wherever she had been before. Ginny wasn't used to Muggle London, she had only been there before to get to Diagon Alley. Still, she managed to eventually find Kings Cross station and then had surreptitiously crossed into Platform 9¾. From there it was just a long flight following the train track to Hogwarts.

Ginny had now floated towards Gryffindor tower, and was close enough to see into the window. The common room was lit by a mixture of the fire and the burning torches on the walls. There were several students in the room – some boys in the year below were sitting by the fire poring over a piece of parchment that one was showing the others – perhaps an essay that they needed to do at some point? On another sofa lounged a couple of small girls that must have been first years. They looked up as someone else entered the common room - a boy with bright red hair who gestured to them to get off the sofa. A bushy-haired brunette berated him as the girls scurried away up the stairs to what Ginny presumed was their dormitory, but the boy threw himself into the sofa anyway.

Ginny smiled at Ron and Hermione. They had changed a lot in the year she hadn't seen them, but they were still instantly recognisable. Still, they looked so incomplete without Harry.

Oh well.

Ginny continued to scan the room but wasn't interested in the others. Most she recognised vaguely, a few were new first years.

Then Amy, Dan and Ellen came into the room. Ginny subconsciously inched closer to the window as the three of them stepped through the portrait hole – Amy first, then Dan, then Ellen. When Ellen came through, Ginny exhaled a breath that she hadn't realised she'd been holding. She had half expected Ellen to not have been there; her father was a Slytherin who had been married to a pure-blood woman before divorcing her and marrying a muggle, Ellen's mother. This of course hadn't gone down well with the Death Eaters, and even before Voldemort's rise to power Ellen's father had often been in danger.

But she was here, and she was alive.

The three of them approached the sofa which had previously been occupied by the boys with the parchment and sat down – Dan sprawled in one corner with a leg spread out to where Amy was sitting on the other end, legs crossed. Ellen perched on the arm of the sofa behind Amy, leaning forwards with her elbows on her knees. She smiled, brushing her wavy dark hair behind one ear, as the other two bickered. Ginny laughed softly as Dan kicked Amy who slapped his leg in response. At least they hadn't changed much.

She didn't notice how close she was to the window until Ellen, who had been gazing around the room, looked directly at her and frowned. Ginny smiled nervously as Ellen's eyes widened and she jumped off the arm of the sofa and ran over to the window. Moving back slightly, Ginny made room for Ellen to throw open the window.

'Ginny!' she squealed, causing the others, who had previously been looking on in confusion, to dash over. Ellen gestured for Ginny to come in, so she floated through the window, glad to finally have her feet on solid ground.

'Hi,' Ginny managed before she was enveloped by a crushing hug from Amy.

'Why the hell didn't you just come in through the door?' Dan laughed when she caught his eye over Amy's shoulder.

'That doesn't sound very fun at all,' Ginny replied.

When she broke away from Amy she heard someone very familiar calling her name.

'Evening Ron,' she grinned.

'I've never been so bloody pleased to see you, Ginny, we all thought you were dead.' He stood in front of her, beaming.

Ginny was unsure of whether to hug him or not, but was saved the decision when a blur of brown hair hurtled towards her and threw her arms around her.

'Ginny!' Hermione sobbed into her shoulder. 'We thought we'd lost you forever.' When she eventually released her, she began throwing questions at her, 'Are you alright? What did Malfoy do to you? How did you get out?'

Bewildered, Ginny looked around at all the excited faces. She had expected hatred and cold words but had only experienced a warm welcome back. Then it hit her.

They didn't know.

**AN: Woah that was a long one. I was going to split it up into two chapters, but then I was like naaah, it would be dull in two. Hopefully this long one makes up for my month's absence? Please please please review. Is it too predictable? Is the characterisation okay? Is it believable? Is it actually interesting or are you suicidal with boredom? **

**Thanks for reading and thanks even more to anyone who reviews. **


	6. I see you decided to come back

'Goes McGonagall know you're here?'

'No,' Ginny frowned. Telling her hadn't even crossed her mind.

Hermione rolled her eyes, 'She'll want to know!'

'I'll go tell her,' Ron stated. 'No, I've got to owl mum and let her know you're safe. No I'll wait until the morning. No she'll want to know now. But I need to tell McGonagall. Hermione!'

Hermione placed a hand on Ron's shoulder in an attempt to soothe his panicking. 'I'll take Ginny to McGonagall, you owl your mum.'

Nodding, Ron ran from the room.

'So how come you're here? How did you escape?' Ellen asked, eyes bright with excitement.

Ginny shrugged and replied, vaguely, 'He just let his guard down and I took advantage of that.'

'Fucking hell!' Dan exclaimed. Ginny turned to see him holding the broom she had flown on. Disbelieving, he breathed, 'Is this a Tempest? Where the hell did you get this? It's worth more than… than… more than me.'

'Yeah but most things are,' Amy muttered.

'Funny.'

'It was Malfoy's,' Ginny smiled. She jumped slightly as someone crashed through the portrait hole.

'I forgot parchment. And a quill. And ink,' Ron panted.

As Hermione hurried off to get the items for Ron, Ellen inspected the bundle of belongings that was now dumped on the floor.

'You had time to steal a broom but you didn't bother getting a trunk?' she questioned, sceptically poking the bundle.

'Well it worked, didn't it?' Ginny grinned.

'Okay,' Ron wheezed before dashing from the room again.

'Come on Ginny.' Hermione gestured for Ginny to join her as she made her way to the portrait hole. 'We need to go and see McGonagall.'

'I'll take your stuff to our dorm.' Amy moved to pick up the broom but Dan snatched at it.

'No don't take it away yet!' he begged.

'Dan, Ginny's back after almost a year and you're more amazed by the broom?'

'But it's the best broom ever,' he mumbled defensively.

*

'So what was it like being Malfoy's prisoner for a year?' Hermione asked as they walked down the familiar corridors.

'Well,' Ginny's mind raced as she decided how she should say she was treated. It's not like she could tell the truth. Would it be more believable to say she was treated badly? She hid a smirk as she thought about what people's reactions would be if she told them he had left her locked in a room without light, food or water. What a scandal she could cause if she said he had been violent. 'It wasn't as bad as it could have been,' she decided to stay near to the truth, although she was tempted not to. She kept her voice quiet as she explained, not wanting to make it seem like it had been too easy for her, but not wanting to play the victim – that wasn't her style. 'Most of the time he left me alone. I was locked in the dungeons; there was no one else there.'

'The dungeons?' Hermione exclaimed.

'Oh that's what he called them. They were basically concrete cells under the house,' Ginny said hurriedly, wanting to quell any images of freezing rooms with water dripping from the ceiling and mould growing on the walls that Hermione might have imagined. 'There were chains attached to the walls but he didn't use them on me. He only used them on… Harry…' Ginny looked down at the ground, her voice trailing off – Hermione probably still thought Ginny loved Harry, and it wasn't a bad idea to keep her thinking that.

Hermione put an arm around her, her voice soothing as she tried to comfort her, 'It must have been hard for you, losing him. It's been hard for all of us.'

Mutely, Ginny nodded, wondering if it had even crossed Hermione's mind that Ginny was involved in his death.

Probably not.

'Has anything important happened while I was gone?' Ginny asked.

Hermione shrugged. 'Not recently. It's been hard without Harry, and your family have still not quite recovered from the loss of your father…' Hermione glanced at Ginny, who was looking at the ground as she walked.

Ginny sensed she was feeling sorry for her, so to break the silence she asked, 'How are they getting money?'

'Harry had left you all his money, and your brothers contribute the rest. They're all doing fine about money, Ginny, you have no need to worry about that.'

'What else is there to worry about?'

Hermione didn't reply to this and the only sound was their footsteps against the stone floors. Eventually, she enquired, cautiously, 'Do you think he'll come looking for you?'

Ginny hadn't considered this. Would he come to find her and take her back? Would he just leave her alone? Or would he get bored of being around the Manor on his own, and return to Hogwarts, if just to remind her that he was around? 'I don't know,' she said with a shrug. 'It must be kind of embarrassing for him, letting me escape; maybe he'll just leave it and pretend he meant it to happen.'

'Or maybe he'll come back for revenge,' Hermione suggested, grimly.

She shook her head. 'I don't think he'll look for revenge; I'm not worth it. He's been pretty busy anyway, I'm sure he'll barely notice I'm gone.'

'Hopefully. Anyway,' Hermione said, brightly, 'the good news is you're back. It's about time we had some good news around here.'

Ginny wanted to ask what the bad news that they'd had, but they had arrived at McGonagall's office.

*

Ginny received a lot of puzzled gazes when she first walked into the Great Hall for breakfast. Of course all the Gryffindors knew she had returned, but she had many friends in other houses who greeted her with tearful beams and frantic questions. Once she had assured them all that yes, she was fine, and yes, it was wonderful to be back, she was able to take a seat at the Gryffindor table. She glanced around the room, scanning her eyes over the tables of students, seeing if anyone significant was missing, but her search halted when she caught sight of Blaise at the Slytherin table. Draco wasn't there, but if Blaise had come back… Either he had been sent to spy on her, or Draco had come back with him.

Grabbing some toast, Ginny turned to Ellen who sat beside her, and said hurriedly, 'I'm not really hungry, so I'm going to go and see if I can borrow some textbooks from the library seeing as I don't have any.'

Before she could leave, Ellen called, 'Wait! What about your timetable? McGonagall said she would send it to you at breakfast.

Ginny sighed, but was relieved when the owls appeared, as if on cue, and one landed on the table in front of her. She took the roll of parchment and strode out of the room.

Once she was in the corridor, she unrolled the parchment to see that it was indeed her timetable, and noted that she had double Charms first, followed by The Dark Arts after lunch. She considered what subjects Draco would have taken if he had returned, and decided that The Dark Arts would definitely be one of them, so she would see him then if he was back.

After standing outside her Charms room for fifteen minutes, students started filling the corridors. Often, they smiled at her as they walked by, although passing Slytherins gave her more wary, untrusting looks. She looked down at the stone floor, not really feeling in the mood for attention.

'There's no point hiding your face when your hair is even more recognisable,' someone said as they leant against the wall beside her.

'Hey Blaise,' she greeted him. 'I see you decided to come back? Probably a good idea, to be honest, you could do with another year of education.'

'You're going to make me cry, Gin.'

Ginny was still looking at the floor, watching the feet of all the students walked past. 'People will be confused if you talk to me, Blaise, we're not supposed to even know each other, let alone be friends.'

'You're right, I should hate you,' he replied, and Ginny sensed he was smiling. 'After all, you're Potter's girl, you're a Gryffindor, and you escaped Draco Malfoy's clutches.'

'Exactly.'

'Fine, I'll just stand here.'

There was a short silence until Blaise commented, 'So I suppose you want to know if Draco's here too.'

'Not really,' Ginny lied, assuming Blaise would tell her anyway.

'Fine.'

After a moment Ginny snapped, 'Okay, I do want to know.'

'Oh really?'

'Yes. Are you going to tell me?'

Eventually Blaise couldn't contain himself and blurted, 'Yes, he came back last night.'

Ginny sighed wearily. 'Is he going to try and take me back?'

'I don't see why he would want to.'

'Then why…?' Ginny looked sideways at him.

The bell rang and as he filed into the classroom with the other students, Blaise just shrugged and smiled enigmatically. 'Why indeed.'

**AN: Hi again! Sorry it took so long to update, it's been busy recently, as I'm sure you can imagine. Please review? Here's an extract from the next chapter:**

_**'Oh come on,' Draco casually strode over to the sofa and sat down, 'do you honestly think it would have made a difference if I had told you? I wouldn't have let you out anyway, there would be too much of a risk that you would tell people. To be honest I'm surprised you believed me.'**_

_**'Yeah, me too,' Ginny snapped. 'Why I believed anything you said is a mystery.'**_

_**'Well why would I let people know? You're much more useful as a secret Death Eater.'**_

**_'Useful for what, exactly?' Ginny's eyes narrowed._ **


	7. Stop crying and answer the question

Taking a seat next to Dan once inside the classroom, Ginny glanced around the room to see who she was sharing the lesson with. Most of the students were in her year, people she knew, but a few were from the year above. Other than Blaise, Hermione was in the class, sitting with Michael Corner, and Terry Boot was sitting alone near the back. Quite a few of their year had returned for their extra year, presumably because it was difficult to get good jobs without NEWTs – or maybe they just didn't want to leave Hogwarts.

Blaise sat on the desk the other side of Ginny, causing her to roll her eyes when he winked unsubtly.

She turned back to Dan, commenting, 'I've really missed Hogwarts. Even the lessons.'

Dan half smiled. 'It's probably the normality you like.'

'Probably. It's still not normal though is it?' She sighed. 'Sometimes things seem like they haven't changed from before everything, like Hogwarts is the same, but then something which is… wrong, reminds you of the events of the past year.'

'Like what?'

'Like… Zabini sitting next to me. The year above being in our lessons, I mean.'

Blaise, who had evidently been listening, leant over and murmured, 'Sorry if I bring back bad memories, Weasley.'

Grateful he had at least remembered to call her by her last name, Ginny didn't reply to this, instead carrying on talking to Dan for the rest of the lesson. It was nice to talk to someone other than Blaise or Draco, and once again she found herself forgetting about everything that had happened.

Until something jolted her.

'I don't reckon she escaped,' a Slytherin a couple of rows in front of her said loudly, glaring at her over his shoulder. 'Malfoy would never let her escape. Besides, he came back too, didn't he? He probably just let her go and she lied about it.'

Dan whispered in her ear, telling her to ignore him.

Ginny looked down at the desk, making tiny scratch marks in it with her quill, but her mind was focussed on the conversation.

The girl with the boy exclaimed, 'He came back too? How come I haven't seen him?'

'I don't know,' the boy replied. 'But he is back, isn't he Blaise?'

Blaise looked up at the boy, as if he hadn't been listening before, but Ginny could tell he had. 'Who, Malfoy? Yeah, he's back, he just didn't come to breakfast because he didn't want pests like you annoying him.'

A Gryffindor boy a few desks away snorted. 'He's probably hiding because he doesn't want to show his face when most of the school despises him.'

'As if he gives a shit what you think of him,' the Slytherin snapped.

'He should,' the boy retorted. 'If he knows what's good for him, he'll stay down in those dungeons.'

Blaise smirked.

'What the fuck is funny?'

'You're just…' Blaise laughed a little and turned back to his work. 'You're just so stupid.'

The boy was about to reply but he was interrupted by the bell ringing and the sound of scraping chairs and chatter filled the room as the students left.

Ginny hung back as people poured out of the room, grabbing the back of Blaise's robe as he passed, dragging him around the corner of the corridor and out of the stream of students.

'Hey Ginny!' Blaise looked down at her and frowned. 'You look angry at me, why are you angry at me?'

'I'm not angry at you,' she muttered, glancing up and down the corridor - there were still a few students coming from their right, but they turned down a different corridor before they reached the two of them.

'Well… I've got to get going then…' he said uncertainly and began to move away but she snapped at him to shut up and pushed him back into the wall with one hand while still looking down the corridor.

Raising his eyebrows suggestively, Blaise murmured, 'Ooh, aggressive.'

'Forget it, Zabini, that's not what I'm here for.'

'Zabini?'

Ginny looked up at his raised eyebrows and sighed. 'Sorry, Blaise. We can't seem like we're friends, okay? So we can't really talk.'

'Why not?'

'Well it's quite unusual.'

'Yeah I know, usually it's the girl against the wall,' Blaise's eyes twinkled.

Rolling her eyes, Ginny replied, 'I mean us talking. You're the enemy, remember? But the thing is I need you to give a message to Draco.'

'Can't you give it to him?'

Ginny raised an eyebrow. 'I can't be seen with him; I was supposed to be his prisoner for a year.'

'Oh yeah.'

'Tell him to meet me in the Room of Requirement at nine tonight.'

'Do I look like a messenger boy?'

'Yes.' As an afterthought Ginny added, 'And give him this,' before punching the messenger boy in the arm.

'Ow!' Blaise exclaimed indignantly.

'See you next Charms lesson.' Ginny smiled as she strode away down the corridor.

*

'Is she here yet?'

'Fucking hell!' Blaise yelped as Draco burst into the room, throwing the dormitory door open so hard it slammed against the wall. 'Christ, Draco, some warning would have been nice.'

'Oh stop crying and answer the question,' Draco snapped.

'Yes.'

'Really?'

'I don't know!' Blaise cried, throwing his hands up in despair. 'What the hell are you on about?'

'Ginny!' Draco made it sound obvious. 'Is she back at Hogwarts yet?'

'Oh! Honestly, Draco,' Blaise acted offended, 'we meet for the first time in hours and I don't even get a hello.'

'Have you seen her?'

'Yeah,' Blaise rubbed his chin as if deep in thought. 'Ginger hair? Freckles? Great body? Is that her?'

Rolling his eyes, Draco sighed, 'Yes. Is she here yet?'

'Oh well that's a completely different question.'

Draco grabbed the front of Blaise's robes and pulled him towards him, their faces inches apart. 'I really want to kill you right now. If you don't stop being a dick and answer my question I swear I will.'

'You're hot when you're angry,' Blaise joked and wiggled his eyebrows. When Draco snarled threateningly he said hurriedly, 'Yes, yes she is. I just had Charms with her.'

After a moment, Draco shoved Blaise away from him and smirked. 'I'd almost forgotten about the new arrangements for our year.'

Blaise frowned slightly, a little disconcerted by that smirk. Experience told him that particular expression meant he was planning something, but he also knew better than to interfere. He commented, 'I'm surprised you haven't heard, actually, it's caused quite a stir amongst the Slytherins, and the rest of the school in fact. The Gryffindors are talking about it nonstop.'

'I haven't spoken to anyone today, least of all Gryffindors.'

'Haven't you gone to your lessons?'

Draco looked at him like he was stupid. 'Why would I need to go to lessons?'

'Oh, I see, you don't want people to know you're back. You might get assaulted by her friends.'

'I wasn't avoiding people; I just don't need to go to potions lessons to pass the exam.'

'Why did you bother coming back at all?' Blaise asked.

'Well I wasn't going to, it's not like I need to,' Draco declared.

'You pretentious bastard.' Blaise laughed.

'But,' Draco ignored him, 'I need to keep an eye on Weasley.'

'You called her Ginny a moment ago,' Blaise remarked knowingly.

'No I didn't,' Draco denied assuredly.

'You did.'

'No I didn't.'

'Yes you did.'

'Shut up.'

'Fine,' Blaise said, sulkily.

After a moment, Draco asked, 'Did you talk to her?'

Blaise just looked at him.

Rolling his eyes, Draco said, 'Okay, you can speak now.'

'Yes I did, actually.'

'What did she say?' Draco's reply sounded deliberately unconcerned.

'She said "I want you Blaise" and so we went at it like rabbits.'

'Zabini, I don't want to know about your ridiculous and disgusting fantasies.'

Laughing, Blaise said, 'Okay, what she really said was to meet her in the Room of Requirement at nine. Oh and she also said to give you this.' He punched Draco in the arm and immediately leapt back out of his reach.

*

'Really, Ginny, it's only been a day; do you miss me that much already?' Draco closed the door to the Room of Requirement, glancing nonchalantly over to Ginny who had jumped up suddenly from the sofa the second he had arrived.

'Shut up,' she ordered as she approached him. 'You lied to me.'

'No doubt I did,' Draco replied smoothly.

'Why?'

'For me to answer that you'll have to be more specific.'

Ginny rolled her eyes, 'You know exactly what I'm talking about, Malfoy, so save us both time and get to the point.'

Draco smirked, 'Nice use of my last name, Ginny, now I know you're really angry.'

Beginning to pace the room, Ginny exclaimed, 'For a year, Draco, one whole, long, fucking year you let me believe everyone knew about me. You wouldn't let me leave the house because people would recognise me. You made me go to muggle shops because I would get attacked if I went to Diagon Alley. You tried to convince me not to come back here because people would hate me!'

Draco watched her with an amused expression as she stopped stamping around the room to turn slowly and face him. Her shoulders rose and fell repeatedly with her heavy breathing, trying to make up for all the breaths she hadn't taken during her rant.

'Say something!' she commanded.

With a shrug, Draco said, 'There would be too much publicity if you went out in public.'

Ginny was speechless for a few heartbeats before she exploded, 'You fucking bastard!'

'Oh come on,' Draco casually strode over to the sofa and sat down, 'do you honestly think it would have made a difference if I had told you? I wouldn't have let you out anyway, there would be too much of a risk that you would tell people. To be honest I'm surprised you believed me.'

'Yeah, me too,' Ginny snapped. 'Why I believed anything you said is a mystery.'

'Well why would I let people know? You're much more useful as a secret Death Eater.'

'Useful for what, exactly?' Ginny's eyes narrowed.

'For example,' Draco inspected his nails, 'now you decided to come back regardless of my forbiddance, you can make yourself useful and get back into that ridiculous Dumbledore's Army. Some of the Death Eaters are worried about what they could be planning. Although if the membership list is anything like what it used to be, there really isn't any need to worry as they're more likely to accidentally kill each other than anyone important.'

Ginny didn't bother listening to whatever last few sentences Draco was muttering – more to himself than to her anyway. On the one hand, he was a wanker who shouldn't have lied to her, but on the other, she couldn't deny that he had a point. Now she was on the Dark Lord's side, she could hardly expect to not have to do anything for him. Although she had hoped she wouldn't have to betray her friends again, as she had before believed they knew about her, but that couldn't be helped.

'Don't think I've forgiven you for this,' Ginny eventually grumbled.

'Oh no.' Draco sounded not at all bothered.

Ginny made a frustrated noise. 'I can't believe I ever thought you were anything except a manipulative, arrogant bastard.'

'It's not like I ever claimed otherwise,' Draco pointed out.

'You know what Draco?' Ginny rubbed her eyes wearily then dropped her hands to her side. 'Why bother pretending? This could never have worked. This… relationship… whatever it is, let's just end it.'

Draco looked at her in silence before saying, 'I wasn't aware we were in a relationship.'

'Well,' Ginny reasoned, 'usually when two people say they love each other then they are considered in a relationship.'

'You shouldn't assume things, Ginny,' he sneered. 'When I said that I was merely making a statement, which I now retract.'

'You can't retract that.'

'Yes I can.'

Another silence, but this time Ginny broke it with a quiet, 'Fine. I don't care. I just ended it anyway.'

'You can't end something that never began,' Draco pointed out to her back as she turned to leave. Her only response was to make a rude gesture to him over her shoulder.

Infuriatingly, Draco just laughed at this before enquiring, 'Have you taken the Dark Arts this year?'

'Yeah,' Ginny replied, halting her exit and frowning at his sudden change of topic.

'Potions?'

'No.'

'Why not?'

'I hate potions and I hate Snape.'

Draco shook his head and murmured sarcastically, 'Oh don't worry, it's not as if it's an important subject for a Death Eater. I bet you took Transfiguration.'

'Of course.'

'What was your other subject? Probably something useless like Care of Magical Creatures.'

'No, actually,' Ginny denied, 'it's Charms.'

'Well then,' Draco stood up and as Ginny left the room, he stated, 'I'll see you in the Dark Arts and Transfiguration then.'

**AN: Here's the new chapter! Please leave some feedback, things you like and things you don't like? Thanks for reading. **

**Extract from the next chapter:**

_'So I hear you're Gryffindor's seeker now?' Draco inspected his nails. _

_'I hear Slytherin are letting you back on the team,' Ginny retorted. 'What did you have to do? Do they all have Tempests now?'_

_'Actually, they practically begged me,' he sneered._


	8. We need to talk about the DA

Later that night, Ginny was sitting on her bed finishing some Charms homework, when Hermione stuck her head around the door. Ginny didn't notice until she started talking.

'Hi Gin, could you come to Ron's dormitory please? We have to talk to you about something.'

Perplexed, Ginny closed her textbook and laid it on the bed before following Hermione out of the room and across the Common Room. She wanted to ask her what was going on, but she looked serious and so Ginny decided to wait until they were in the dormitory.

Following Hermione into the room, Ginny saw that Ron was sitting on his bed, scratching his head almost nervously.

'What do you want to talk to me about?' she asked when she caught his eye.

His eyes twinkled in a mischievous that reminded Ginny of their brothers Fred and George. 'Firstly, we need to talk about the,' he lowered his voice, 'the DA.'

Ginny went to sit on the bed beside him and said with feigned excitement, 'That's still around? But it's so risky!'

Ron nodded. 'It is, and we don't meet in the Room of Requirement anymore.'

Hermione, who had joined them, explained, 'We very rarely hold meetings anymore. We transfer our plans through word of mouth.'

'Plans? What kind of things do you do?'

'Nothing really serious yet…'

'But,' Ron cut in, 'we've got a huge plan on the horizon.'

When Ginny asked what it was, Hermione interrupted to say, 'Wait, we haven't asked her if she wants in yet.'

'Of course I do!' Ginny exclaimed.

'Are you sure?' Hermione asked, her expression concerned. 'We completely understand if you want as little to do with the Death Eaters as possible.'

'All I want is revenge,' Ginny said vehemently, inwardly feeling relieved at how easy this had turned out to be.

'Okay, okay,' Ron said excitedly, clearly wanting to tell her. 'Then I think you'll love the plan. We're going to kidnap Malfoy.'

'What?' she cried, her voice panicky, before she could stop herself. Thankfully, they interpreted this as shock and fear rather than anything suspicious.

Hermione put her hand on Ginny's shoulder. 'I thought you be a bit worried. If you don't want to be involved that's fine, we're not going to force you to have anything to do with him again.'

'No, I want to! But, how are you going to do it?' Ginny's mind was racing with the implications of this plot, but she tried to cover this up by looking interested in what Ron was explaining.

'This weekend is a Hogsmeade weekend. We're going to lure him away to outside the Shrieking Shack, and Hermione will petrify him. Then we'll cover him up with Harry's invisibility cloak, and take him to the house of a friend we have down there. He's got an anti-apparation shield around the house, so he won't be able to get away.'

'But what is it you want to get from him? You can't make any demands, as soon as you let… You-Know-Who know that you have him, they'll come after him.'

Hermione shook her head. 'We're not using him as a hostage. We're just going to find out from him what You-Know-Who is planning to do with all of the muggle-borns at Hogwarts.'

Ron, leaning towards her, lowered his voice further and murmured, 'A couple have gone missing recently, but it's been kept very quiet. We reckon if there's someone in Hogwarts, he'll know what's going on. Why else would he come back here?'

Nodding slowly to show them she understood, she inquired, 'But when you let him go, he'll just tell the Death Eaters who took him. You'll be killed.'

Ron and Hermione looked back at her gravely.

A horrible feeling washed over her and she had to fight the urge to intervene.

It was Hermione who spoke first. Her voice was low and serious. 'We're… we're not going to let him go.'

'We thought, maybe, that…' Ron sounded awkward, 'that maybe you might like to… you know. Get revenge, like you said.'

'If you don't want to, that's fine. One of us can do it instead,' Hermione added.

Ginny felt sick.

Maybe this wasn't as easy as she thought it was, after all.

'Well, we'll talk about that when it happens,' Hermine said gently, placing a hand reassuringly on Ginny's shoulder. She fought the urge to jump away.

'Now for the other news,' Ron said excitedly. 'If you hadn't noticed already…' he stuck out his chest and Ginny caught sight of the badge on his robes that she had of course spotted before. The glimmering letters reminded her once again that he was head of the Gryffindor Quidditch team.

'Yes, congratulations Ron, but that's not really news anymore, I've congratulated you a million times.'

'No, the thing is, I've spoken to the team and we want you back.'

Ginny's eyes widened. 'But you already have Chasers.'

Shaking his head, Ron said, 'We need a new Seeker, after Harry…'

Despite the gloomy way he had trailed off, and the flicker of sadness in Hermione's eyes, a wave of happiness washed over Ginny. Quidditch. Normality. 'That's brilliant Ron!'

'So you'll do it?' he grinned.

'Of course! When's the next game?'

'Soon, actually. We're playing Slytherin, and they have unsurprisingly made Malfoy their Seeker. So your new broom should come in useful.'

A slow smile stretched across Ginny's face as she imagined what Draco's reaction would be if she managed to beat him.

**

The first lesson the next morning was the Dark Arts, and Ginny guessed from the scowl on Draco's face that he had heard the news of Ginny's return to the Gryffindor team. As the class filed into the room, he hung back, stepping in front of her before she reached the door, leaving them alone in the corridor outside.

'So I hear you're Gryffindor's seeker now?' Draco inspected his nails.

'I hear Slytherin are letting you back on the team,' Ginny retorted. 'What did you have to do? Do they all have Tempests now?'

'Actually, they practically begged me,' he sneered, 'and we would beat your team even if we were on Cleansweeps.'

Ginny laughed and tried to walk around him. 'Okay Draco.'

Grabbing her wrist, Draco stopped her from going and asked, 'So are you going to give me my broom back?'

'Scared you'll lose without it?'

'No I just don't appreciate being stolen from.' He paused for a moment, as if he was stopping himself from saying something. Eventually he murmured, 'It doesn't matter anyway, I've already bought another one. At least now, when I beat you, we'll know it's not because of the broom, it's because I'm just better than you.'

'That's so noble of you, Draco!'

'Well, I've been brought up as a gentleman,' Draco said sarcastically, ignoring how Ginny looked pointedly at his hand which was still restraining her. 'Just call it a leaving present.'

*

That evening, Ginny retreated to the library to try to find some books to help her with her Charms homework. Despite finding it hard to concentrate on the work, she had managed to write almost half before she was interrupted by Blaise.

'Good evening, Miss Weasley.'

She looked up to see him leaning casually against a bookcase, a half smile on his face.

'Looking for something?'

'Just some books. For the Charms homework, you know.'

Ginny rolled her eyes and tried to carry on with her work, not looking up at Blaise when he dropped into the seat beside her.

'So,' Blaise nudged Ginny with a grin and said, 'looking forward to the game tomorrow?'

Ginny stood up and returned one of the books to the shelf. 'Urgh. Half of me thinks it will be fun, but the other half of me thinks that there couldn't be anything worse.'

Blaise jumped up from the seat. 'Well, it will have either one of two outcomes.' He selected a couple of books from the shelf as he spoke.

'Oh yeah?' Ginny leant against the wall, arms folded and an amused smile on her face.

'Yeah. First option,' Blaise dumped the books on the table and held up one finger to emphasise his point, 'Draco gets the Snitch. He doesn't let you forget it ever; he thinks of it as a personal victory over you and brings it up at every opportunity. You get annoyed because he won't shut up about it and because you lost. You two have a fight.'

Ginny nodded. 'And the second option?'

'You get the Snitch. Draco claims it doesn't matter but hates himself for losing to you. He probably invents an excuse or says he let you win. You get annoyed because he won't acknowledge your achievement, and tell him he's jealous or generally make fun of him for losing. You two have a fight.' Blaise added another couple of books to the pile and paused, frowning a little, before adding, 'Actually that's more like just one outcome.'

'Great,' Ginny said brightly as she dropped into a chair. 'I guess I'll just have to make sure I win then.'

**AN: I'm SO sorry it's taken so long to update, and that it's so short/poorly written, I've been very busy. But I have a lot planned and a lot written, so hopefully it will improve. Please review and let me know what you think!**

**Extract from the next chapter for you:**

_'Morris,' Draco's voice was quiet, 'just to let you know: if you ever touch her with your disgusting hands, I will rip your throat out.'_

_'Really, Draco?' Morris seemed unaffected by the threat. 'Do you really want to get on my bad side?'_


	9. Didn't he get the Snitch?

When Ginny strode out across the pitch with the rest of the Gryffindor team she noticed three things. Firstly, she noted that there was a new commentator calling out the names of the players, someone younger than her who she didn't recognise the voice of. Secondly, she experienced again the rush of having three quarters of the school cheering wildly for her. And lastly, she noticed that Draco was looking straight at her.

The Slytherin team were already out on the pitch, sneering threateningly at her in their usual manner. She was surprised to see the only broom that matching hers was held in Draco's hand, and that he hadn't equipped the rest of his team with them. Ginny looked back at Draco while the two captains shook hands, the tiny smirk on his lips sending fresh determination through her.

She barely noticed when the starting whistle was blown, meaning she kicked up off the ground a split second later than everyone else.

'Already having trouble keeping up?'

Before Ginny could turn her head and glare at Draco, who had muttered those words as he flew by, he had already gone.

Berating herself inwardly for messing up so early, she shot up through the air until she was higher than the other players, observing the green and blue clad students speeding up and down the pitch. The broom was incredibly light and sensitive to her direction, in stark contrast to the brooms she had been on before. Her eye caught sight of Draco below her, zigzagging down one side, so acutely tuned to the broom that he used it with an ease that she couldn't help but be impressed by.

She leant forwards slightly, sending herself and the broom down towards him. She swerved to one side to avoid a Bludger she had noticed just in time, before slowing down alongside Draco.

'Can't you find the Snitch on your own?' Draco called over the wind. 'Or do you need me to help you?'

'No,' Ginny replied, 'I just thought it would be fun to annoy you.'

He swerved away from her but she followed him, remaining in smooth parallel to him.

'Hey I was right,' she said with a laugh, 'this is fun.'

Suddenly he disappeared and as she turned her head to look behind she realised he had suddenly stopped, leaving her flying forwards alone. She faced ahead again just in time to pull up sharply, narrowly avoiding the Ravenclaw stand. Her heart thumped as she flew up vertically, scarily close to the stand, as she realised how close to crashing she had been. Turning back towards the other players, she noticed Draco laughing at her from across the pitch. Her annoyance was only worsened by seeing the Slytherins score another goal.

'That's 10 points to Slytherin, putting them in the lead!' called the commentator.

Ginny glared back at Draco, who was smirking at her. He flew around the pitch, slowing down as he passed her so he could say, 'I know it's hard to keep your eyes off me but you should probably start looking for the Snitch. Not that it will help much…'

Even while Ginny scoffed at his statement, she saw the truth in it and realised she hadn't actually started the search yet. Seeing Draco's expression of surprise as a Bludger narrowly missed his head cheered her up a little, and she shot up higher into the sky so she could survey the pitch from above. The Gryffindors managed a goal and evened the score, but she didn't catch sight of any gold.

In the next ten minutes, while she darted between the players and the Bludgers, Gryffindor scored twice and the Slytherins five times. She hadn't found the Snitch, but neither had Draco so she still felt positive. Squinting her eyes shut against the wind, she flew down one side of the pitch, scanning the air for a glimpse of gold.

There.

She sent the broom shooting forwards towards the Snitch, which was fluttering near the Slytherin goalposts. The smile that had begun to spread across her face disappeared when a glance to her left told her that not only had Draco seen it too, but he was closer. She willed the broom faster, frowning in concentration, fingers gripping the wooden handle hard.

Suddenly there was a shockwave of pain through her shoulder as a Bludger slammed into it and sent her spinning off the broom. One tightly gripped hand kept her hanging in the air, twenty metres above the ground that looked scarily solid. The other injured arm hung limply, and when she tried to swing it up to grab the broom she cried out in pain, realising the blow had made it useless. Her legs swung helplessly in the air and she swore when she realised Draco must have got to the Snitch by now.

Someone helped her back onto the broom, and when she had regained her balance she realised it was Ritchie Coote, one of the Gryffindor beaters. Breathlessly, she thanked him, rubbing her injured shoulder.

'No problem,' he smiled back.

Ron pulled up beside her, eyes wide with worry. 'Are you alright Gin? Can you carry on playing?'

Ginny frowned in confusion. 'Carry on? But… didn't he get the Snitch?'

As Ron shook his head, Ginny looked over at Draco, who was hovering a few metres away from where she had seen the Snitch. When she caught his eye he turned around and shot off down the pitch to begin his search again.

'So can you still play?' Ron asked insistently.

'Yeah, sure,' Ginny replied distractedly. She tore her eyes away from the green clad boy who had surprised her again. 'Yeah, let's go.'

As she flew off, over the whistle of the referee and the cheering of the crowd she heard the commentator call, 'And it looks like Weasley is still in the game! The score stands at sixty to Slytherin, thirty to Gryffindor, let's see if Gryffindor can pull it back or if Slytherin will continue to victory.'

Without intending to, Ginny had lowered her height so she was only about five metres off the ground, looking up at the Chasers. Clearly she still had a small sense of self-preservation. After a couple of minutes, she was almost shocked to glimpse the Snitch flitting just a couple of metres to her left. Scanning the players above, she located Draco well above the game, surveying from a height.

The groan of disappointment from the crowd as a Gryffindor shot missed the goal turned to cheers as she closed her hand over the tiny Snitch. She shot up into the air, spinning around as she ascended to the other players on the team. The commentator could barely be heard over the screaming crowd as she soared around the pitch, holding the Snitch out as she passed the Gryffindor stand and grinning as their cheering practically deafened her. As soon as she landed she was bombarded by her team mates, all celebrating and congratulating her.

She couldn't help feel like it was a hollow victory though, as she caught sight of Draco, the last of the Slytherins to touch the ground. He didn't look at her, just swung his broom over his shoulder and made his way to the changing rooms.

**

Draco fumed as he strode through the corridors towards the dungeons. He couldn't believe he lost – and it was his own stupid fault. He could so easily have caught the Snitch himself if he hadn't been so ridiculous. He shook his head angrily as he remembered how he had abruptly stopped as soon as he saw her take the hit, remembered his hands grip the broom hard as he fought the desire to go and help her, remembered the unfamiliar fear as he watched her struggle, remembered the bitter sting of seeing another boy rescue her. Why did he care?

Stupid Ginny.

When he arrived at the Slytherin common room, he was irritated to see Graham Morris on his sofa. The disgusting boy was talking to a couple of younger Slytherins, most likely about how his father had recently become a Death Eater. Apparently this made Morris important for some reason. Resisting the urge to go over to say something insulting to him, Draco carried on walking towards Blaise's dormitory.

'Draco!' Morris called. Draco halted his walk and turned to face the boy, feeling himself tense a little. Morris was a chunky boy – big boned is how his mother would describe him – and although admittedly he wasn't fat, he was certainly large. He had a distinctly square head, his face still recovering from the unfortunate acne he had suffered from over the past few years. Limp, light brown hair lay flat against the top of his head, which was at least now fairly clean as he had recently got into the habit of showering more often than once a week.

'Yes?' Draco managed, grimacing at Morris' use of his first name. He may as well have called him "darling".

'I heard you were back. Have you heard the news? My father has become a Death Eater, like yours,' Morris said proudly.

'Do you want a medal or something?' Draco asked, impassively.

'Oh wait,' Morris pretended to have just remembered something, 'your father's dead isn't he?'

Draco's expression didn't change, but his jaw tightened. It was true; his father had been killed soon after Voldemort had come to power. Evidently Voldemort didn't think he was very useful if he was stupid enough to be put in Azkaban. 'Yes,' Draco replied emotionlessly, not wanting to give Morris the reaction he wanted.

Just then, Blaise came out of his room, bounding into the common room and dropping into the sofa opposite the one Morris occupied. Oblivious to the hostile atmosphere, he grinned at Malfoy and said brightly, 'Oi Draco, sit down you moody bastard.'

'Yeah Malfoy,' Morris drawled, 'sit down.'

I'd rather gnaw my own feet off, Draco thought, but out loud he just said, 'No thanks.'

'You know what the best thing about having a Death Eater as a father is, Draco?' Morris asked, lifting one arm up and placing it along the back of the sofa.

'Telling people about it?' Draco suggested pointedly.

Morris laughed briefly before saying with satisfaction, 'Well yes, that's good, but what's even better is how great it is for my sex life. It's surprising what a girl will do to protect their parents.'

Draco regarded Morris with a look of disgust. 'I'm not surprised you have to go to such lengths to persuade a girl to touch you, but that's just pathetic.'

'Oh come on, Draco, don't tell me you haven't taken advantage of a few girls in your time,' Morris scoffed. 'We've all heard the rumours.'

'It's not his fault, Draco,' Blaise said, stretching his legs out on the sofa, 'he's just not as gifted as you and I. I'm astounded that he hasn't just given up and become a full-blown rapist yet, with a face like that.'

Ignoring Blaise's input, Morris looked at Draco and commented casually, 'Must have been hard for you, while you were away from school, stuck in a house with no female company. How did you manage with no action for so long? Unless of course, you persuaded Weasley to put out.'

Draco, whose gaze had been deliberately drifting around the room in a display of boredom, snapped back to Morris, who was sneering. How did he know Ginny had been staying with him? Oh of course, his damn father's new occupation.

'Oh yes,' Morris seemed delighted by Draco's silence, 'dad tells me lots of very interesting things.'

Draco wondered briefly what Voldemort would say about that, but didn't comment.

'Well, Draco, did you fuck her?'

Riled by Morris' brashness about Ginny, Draco slowly moved to sit beside Blaise and replied, 'I'm not that desperate.'

Morris shrugged. 'She's pretty hot. I'd do her.'

'He has a point,' remarked Blaise, who was pulling a loose thread out of the arm of the sofa and looking entirely uninterested in the conversation.

'She wouldn't touch you if you paid her,' Draco snapped at Morris. Inwardly he berated himself for acting like he cared, but as Morris sat carelessly in the sofa talking about Ginny like that, it was becoming increasingly difficult not to kill him.

'She's a Weasley, I'm sure there's not a lot she wouldn't do for money,' Morris laughed. After a moment of thought he added, 'Actually I might give it a go. She's still got one parent alive, right?'

'Morris,' Draco's voice was quiet, 'just to let you know: if you ever touch her with your disgusting hands, I will rip your throat out.'

'Really, Draco?' Morris seemed unaffected by the threat. 'Do you really want to get on my bad side?'

Draco couldn't remember the last time he'd had such unbearably conflicting emotions. Half of him told him to calm down, stop being a twat and treat both Morris and Ginny with the carelessness they deserve. But the other half told him to cause Morris some serious harm. He sneered, 'And why should I be scared of you?'

Morris stood up, taking a step towards Draco and looking down at him. 'I know things, Draco,' he warned quietly. 'Things that I know you wouldn't be pleased about people knowing.'

'Like what?' Draco was now on his feet too and unpleasantly close to Morris' face.

Morris smiled nastily. 'Let's just say I could cause damage to both your reputation and your job.' When Draco didn't react, Morris continued, 'I mean, how willing would those Gryffindors be to let that Weasley girl join their gang if they knew it was her fault their hero died? And how would the Dark Lord like to hear of your failure? We wouldn't want you to go the same way as your pathetic father, would we?'

Draco tried very hard to stop his hands shaking with rage. He couldn't cause this boy any real pain, so he had to make do with trying to kill him with his eyes, which was very unsatisfying in comparison.

'You can glare at me all you like,' Morris laughed softly, 'but it won't change the fact that I'm going to touch Ginny with my… "disgusting" hands, and there's nothing you can do.'

Eyes narrowed, Draco murmured, 'You might think you've got one up on me now, Morris. But one day you won't have any power over me. And when that time comes, I promise, I will kill you.'

'I can't wait for you to try.'

Draco felt Blaise's hand on his arm, pulling him back away from Morris. He shook him off, but stepped back anyway, throwing Morris one last fierce look before leaving the room.

**AN: Okay, I won't bore you with excuses but I am so sorry it took me so long to update. Here's a long and action-packed chapter to make up for it. If I still have any readers, please review? It really does encourage me to speed up. Thanks for reading! Here's an extract from the next chapter:**

_'I bet you haven't even found anything useful about the DA yet,' Draco grumbled._

_'No, I haven't,' Ginny lied angrily. 'Now piss off and let me get back to my job.'_


	10. You're so predictable

Ginny hadn't been looking for Draco, but when she came across him in the library while returning the books she had borrowed for Charms, she thought she should probably talk to him, if only to gauge his mood after the match.

'We shouldn't be seen together in public,' was all Draco said when she greeted him. His tone was curt, but Ginny couldn't work out if this was because he was annoyed or because it was just him.

'I need to talk to you,' Ginny said quietly, talking to his shoulder because he'd turned away from her to the shelf of books.

'Is it important?'

'Yes.'

'Owl me.'

Sighing in frustration, Ginny grabbed his shoulder to force him to turn and face her. He let her rotate him, although he didn't meet her eye, instead looking over her shoulder with a haughty expression on his face.

'Why are you in such a bad mood?' Ginny frowned up at him, seeing the reflections of the torchlight flickering in his eyes which wouldn't look at her.

'Because you're irritating?'

'Is this because of the game earlier?' Ginny asked, determinedly ignoring his attitude.

Draco scoffed. 'Don't be stupid, I don't care that you won by fluke.'

With raised eyebrows, Ginny repeated, 'Fluke? Look Draco, there's really no need to be bitter.'

'I would have got the Snitch well before you if you weren't too stupid to look out for Bludgers.'

Their eyes met and Ginny could see his narrow when she said with a smile, 'It's really not my fault you care enough about me to stop and check I'm okay.'

Dropping his voice low, he leant his face closer to hers and murmured, 'I wasn't checking you were okay, Ginny, I just wanted to see you fall.'

'You're a liar.'

'Am I?'

Ginny's heart was racing as she glared back into those eyes that bore into hers. They were so close that her head was throwing a shadow across his face, so the glimmers of the torches on the wall that lit the room were only visible in one of his eyes.

'I would have died from that height,' she muttered.

'Hence my disappointment when you didn't fall.'

A breathy laugh escaped her lips. 'Draco, you know you would be miserable without me.'

'You're right, because we have so much fun together, don't we?' Draco's voice was sarcastic but he knew she was right, which just made him angrier. Just inches from her lips he was fighting the desire to kiss her – to let her know she still belonged to him, he reasoned, although he knew that wasn't really it.

'Who would be your spy if I were gone?'

Draco wished she would give in and step away soon; there was no way he was retreating first but her glaring eyes were really testing his restraint. With a laugh, he retorted, 'You're a useless spy anyway.'

He breathed out in relief as she moved back, frowning.

'I'm not useless.'

'I bet you haven't even found anything useful about the DA yet,' Draco grumbled.

'No, I haven't,' Ginny lied angrily. 'Now piss off and let me get back to my job.'

After watching her storm out of the library, Draco leant back against the bookshelf with a sigh. Of course he hadn't told her the main reason he was in this mood. Morris. It was a rare experience for him to not know what to do.

*

Ginny's impulsive and irrational decision not to tell Draco about the DA's plan had kept her awake most of the night, but it wasn't until the next day that she realised how stupid she had been to let her anger cloud her judgement. As she sat in the Hog's Head in Hogsmeade with a few members of the DA – Ron, Hermione, Dean Thomas and Seamus Finnigan. She hadn't felt so uncomfortable in a long time; the group were huddled around a small table in the dingy room which was tense and filled with the sounds of glasses clinking and muffled conversations. She had also never heard Ron talk as quietly as he did when he was going over the plan. He'd told her about the spell Hermione would cast to bind Draco, about Harry's invisibility cloak which was hidden under Seamus' shirt, about the anti-apparation spells cast on the Weasley house so that he wouldn't be able to escape once they were there.

Trying not to dwell on the prospect of going back to her house for the first time in over a year, Ginny frowned and asked, 'Wait, but how are you going to get him on his own? Won't he be with Blaise?'

'Blaise is in detention for not showing up to Potions,' Dean explained.

'Well he's still not going to come over to any of you.'

'Ginny,' Hermione said with a small smile, 'we have you. You know if he sees you on your own he won't be able to resist coming over to gloat.'

Holding in her laugh at the truth in this, Ginny nodded. 'Where do you want me to go?'

*

There was a breeze so cold that Ginny had to narrow her eyes against it to stop the stringing. Through her squinting eyes she looked up at the Shrieking Shack – as silent now as it had been for years. She knew Draco was standing about twenty metres away, although she wasn't looking, as the reason the DA members had chosen this spot was because he was alone nearby, leaning against a tree.

What a stupid idiot, she thought, as she shoved her hands into her pockets against the cold. What was he doing on his own anyway? He must have been meeting someone – while they had been watching a man had walked away from him – but he shouldn't have stayed there alone.

Not when he was hated by so many.

Ginny noticed a pebble move on the floor near to her foot. It would have surprised her if she hadn't known Hermione and Seamus were hidden under the invisibility cloak beside her.

She willed him not to come over, and after a minute had passed she thought their plan had failed. Her heart was beating so fast and hard that in the silence she could almost hear it.

Someone's hand was placed on the small of her back but she didn't jump or show any sign of surprise. She closed her eyes briefly and breathed out, the air forming mist in front of her face.

'What's wrong, Ginny?' said the person the hand belonged to, his voice low and quiet. 'Where are all your little Gryffindor pals?'

'You're so predictable,' was all Ginny said, before she heard the mutter of the Petrificus Totalus spell; in a whirl, Hermione and Seamus became visible and it was now Draco's frozen body hidden under the invisibility cloak.

**AN: Oh no! Just a short one to keep you going while I write the next one which will probably be hard. Opinions, anyone? Thanks for reading.**


	11. The game's up

While his frozen body was levitated above the ground, all Draco could do was look at the sky through the transparent invisibility cloak draped over him, seething inwardly. He couldn't believe this was happening. Every now and then the stupid bushy hair of that Mudblood came into his line of sight. Why was she even still alive? If Voldemort had been more efficient this wouldn't even be a problem right now.

He wasn't surprised when he felt a hand on his wrist and the familiar tug of Apparation. As his new surroundings came into focus, he strained to see where he was, but as he was still rigid, all he could see was the overcast sky. It was very frustrating for him to not even be able to frown.

He heard a male voice ask them to stop, a hint of laughter in his tone. It was Ron Weasley.

'Wait, before we go in…' he was saying. He leant over Draco, whose vision was filled with the freckled face of the red-haired boy, grinning in a mocking way that made Draco want to punch him. 'Do you want to see where you'll have the honour of staying?'

Amongst laughter, Draco's inflexible body was tilted upright enough for him to see the dishevelled, collapsing building that could only be the Weasey's home.

Great, Draco thought, not only had he been kidnapped but he was being held hostage in a dump.

*

Ginny felt a guiltiness she hadn't experienced for a long time once they were inside her old home. As she cast her eyes over the rooms - seeing objects that brought back memories so vivid her mind was reeling - she felt like a traitor.

Keeping the awkward feelings off her expression, she beamed and flitted around; the picture of a child returning home. 'I'd almost forgotten what my home looked like,' she squealed, grinning up at Ron, who had an odd smile on his face.

'Let's take him upstairs,' he said. 'We should keep him in your room, Gin, so he's out of our way; I'm sure you'll want to see it anyway.'

With a gasp, Ginny ran up the stairs and into her bedroom – she may have been faking much of her enthusiasm but she really was interested in seeing it. She froze as soon as she opened the door.

Everything in her room was exactly as it had been a year ago when she had left for Hogwarts. A lot of her belongings had been packed up to take to school, but the childhood objects, photos and books were still scattered around exactly as she remembered.

'It's so good to be home!' Ginny exclaimed as she span around gleefully. Her smile faltered when she stilled and caught sight of Ron's expression. There was no hint of happiness on his face.

'This isn't your home,' he said, glaring back at her.

Ginny's heart raced as she noticed Dean and Seamus enter the room and stand either side of him. Her fingers ached to reach for her wand.

'Do you think I'm stupid, Ginny?' Ron demanded.

'What are you talking about?'

There was a sadness in Ron's eyes, but his expression was hard and angry, not like she had ever seen before. 'Don't, Ginny. Don't lie more than you already have.'

Seamus snapped, 'You're a traitor, Ginny. I never saw it coming.'

Ron held up a hand to silence him. The two boys either side of him retrieved their wands and Ginny's hand moved slowly towards her own.

'The game's up, Gin,' Ron said quietly, before turning away.

She snatched for her wand, but it was too late. The cry of 'stupefy!' was the last thing she heard before she fell unconscious to the floor.

*

Ginny groaned as she tried to focus her eyes on her surroundings. She was still in her old bedroom, but this time she was sitting on a hard wooden stool. Attempting to lift a hand to her head, she realised she was bound to someone who was sitting back to back with her, their wrists tied together with thick ropes.

'You're finally awake then?'

Shutting her eyes, Ginny sighed when she realised who it was tied to her.

'So, Draco, who did you tell?' she asked, conversationally.

'I was about to ask you the same question,' he replied.

Ginny tried to turn her head to look at him, but as they were back to back, all she could see was the back of his head. 'Do you really think I would tell anyone?'

'Yes.'

Stunned, Ginny spluttered, 'Why the hell would I do that?'

She felt his shoulders shrug. 'Maybe you didn't want people to think I had managed to kidnap you and keep you prisoner. Maybe you wanted to be treated with more respect. I don't know.'

'You're right,' Ginny said, sarcastically. 'I told everyone because I really love being treated like a traitor and hated by everyone.'

'It's what you deserve,' Draco drawled. 'If it had been Ron who had done what you have, wouldn't you treat him the same way you're being treated?'

'Yes,' Ginny snapped, 'but that's not important.'

'Of course not.'

'I can't believe this is happening.'

'I'm not exactly over the moon about being tied to you either, you know,' Draco said, indignantly.

'We have to think about how to get out of here.'

'Merlin, you're right! I would never have come up with an idea like that, thank goodness you're here.'

'Yeah thanks, Draco, that's what we need right now: sarcasm,' Ginny snapped back.

'You probably didn't even notice the irony in that sentence, you idiot.'

'Just figure out a way to untie us so I can hex you,' she growled.

Draco chuckled. 'That's what I love most about you, Ginny, your calm nature.'

'How can I be calm?' she exclaimed. 'We're trapped in the hands of people who want us dead!'

The door opened and Dean Thomas appeared in the doorway, his wand gripped threateningly at his side. 'Oh, we don't want you dead. Yet.'

**AN: Sorry it's been such a long time, I've been writing like crazy and I've written most of it now. Thanks for reading and please review.**


	12. You look like a traitor

'Well what is it that you want then,' Draco asked, 'because I've got to be back at school by seven.'

Ignoring Draco, Dean looked straight at Ginny, his expression hard.

'Hello Dean,' Ginny greeted.

'Hi Gin, nice to see you again,' he said, a bitter sarcasm in his tone. 'It's been a while.'

'It has. You look pretty much the same.'

'You look very different.'

'Do I?'

'Yeah, you look like a traitor now.'

Ginny looked back at him innocently. 'Oh? You'd think you would have realised earlier, if it's that obvious.'

'I guess I just expected to be able to trust you. You're right; I should have thought to watch my back in case you stabbed it.'

Draco rolled his eyes dramatically. 'Do I have to sit here and listen to you two trade stupid comments?'

'You'll do what I tell you, Malfoy,' Dean snapped.

'I understand you're bitter because your ex-girlfriend betrayed you, but you're really better off without her. Can we just get on with the interrogation?'

With his wand raised and directed at Draco's chest, Dean retorted, 'You shut up, Malfoy, or you'll regret it.'

'What are you going to do, torture me?' Draco scoffed.

'Yes, you smug fuck, that's exactly what I'm going to do. Crucio!'

Ginny could feel Draco tense as the curse inflicted waves of pain on his body; he pulled at the ropes binding them together as his body instinctively attempted to curl up.

'Is that the best you can do?' Draco sneered when he'd relaxed again, although he was panting slightly. 'You must not want to hurt me that much, or that would have been worse.'

'I want to hurt you so much that I can hardly control myself,' Dean snarled.

Meeting Dean's eye, Ginny commented, 'It really should be me you're angry at.'

As Draco caught his breath, he concentrated on hiding the fact that he'd managed to slide one of his hands free of the ropes. Luckily, Dean was too distracted by Ginny to notice him trying to free his other one.

'I _know _it's you I should be angry at,' Dean exclaimed. He turned away for a moment, rubbing his temples with his fingers.

'Aren't you going to interrogate us?' Ginny enquired. 'Ask where the Dark Lord is? Make us tell you some plans?'

'Would you tell me?'

'No,' Ginny said with a laugh. 'Of course not. I'm a Death Eater now, I'm not about to betray them.'

Dean whirled around to face her again. 'But you betrayed us! You betrayed Harry!'

'Yes, I suppose I did,' Ginny replied casually.

'How can you not even care?'

Ginny shrugged. 'At least I chose the winning side.'

Smiling inwardly at how easily Ginny was angering Dean, Draco finally managed to release his other hand. He left them by the ropes, so their captor wouldn't notice; he had to wait until Ginny had made him enraged as possible. Fury overpowered reason and control, meaning he would be unable to think straight and a lot easier to fight.

Dean's voice lowered to a growl. 'Then I guess I'll have to force the answers out of you.'

'How are you going to do that?' Ginny asked, quietly. 'You can't torture me like you did Draco. Your curse was quite weak on him; imagine how weak it would be on me.' She looked up into Dean's dark eyes, her face expressionless.

'But I'm much angrier at you,' he snarled, 'so it would be stronger.'

'You don't want to hurt me, Dean.'

'Don't say my name!' he ordered.

'It doesn't matter that I betrayed you all, or got Potter killed, or lied so I could spy for the Dark Lord,' Ginny said calmly, 'the fact is, you don't really want to hurt me, so the Cruciatus Curse won't work.'

'Ohyeah?' Dean muttered, stepping forward and pressing the tip of his wand vehemently against her neck. 'Shall we try it and see?'

Ginny stayed silent and motionless, head tilted to one side, resisting the urge to flinch despite feeling vulnerable. She stared up at Dean, seeing him shake slightly, jaw clenched and eyes glaring back purposefully.

Draco made a sudden movement which threw Ginny forward, the wand leaving a trail of sharp pain as it was scraped across her throat. Dean, stunned, didn't have time to react before Draco swung his fist towards his face, the loud crack as it made impact suggesting a broken nose. He dropped to the floor, his head slamming against the wooden floorboards and leaving him unconscious.

'We have to get going,' Draco murmured, staring down at Dean, whose blood was pouring from his nose and forming a puddle on the floor. 'They might have heard something.'

'Well untie me then,' Ginny demanded, covering up her amazement at what at just happened.

Leaning down to Dean's motionless body, Draco retrieved their wands which were in his pocket. After using his to sever the remaining ropes, he returned Ginny's to her.

'How are we going to get out?' Ginny asked.

'I don't know, it's your disgusting house,' Draco retorted.

'Not anymore, I live in your disgusting house now.'

'My house is pristine. Why are you opening the window? There's no way I'm jumping, there are about fifty floors in this house.'

Throwing open the window, Ginny sighed. 'Don't exaggerate, Draco. My room is only on the first floor, we can climb down.'

When Ginny didn't receive an answer, she turned around and saw Draco staring back at her, regarding her with an expression of utter distaste.

'Well would you rather fight your way out?' she challenged, placing a hand on her hip.

'Yes! Obviously!'

Shaking her head, Ginny collected up the discarded bits of rope, using her wand to fasten them together into one long cord. Securing it to the bedpost nearest the window, she tossed the rope out of the window.

'Ready to go?' she said, swinging her legs over the windowsill.

'What is it with you and escaping out of windows?' Draco commented as he watched her disappear down the rope.

Once in the garden below, Ginny stood against the wall so she wasn't visible from any windows. Eventually, Draco clambered out of the window and slid down to her level.

'What took you so long?' Ginny asked as she jogged away from the house. 'Did it take you that long to work up the courage to do it? You'd think a Quidditch player would not be scared of heights.'

'I'm not scared of heights, you moron, I was making sure Dean Thomas wouldn't get up and alert the others.'

'I doubt he'd be able to any time soon, in his condition.'

'I wouldn't call it a condition, Ginny, he's dead.'

Ginny stopped running. 'What? I thought you just knocked him unconscious!'

'I did, at first,' Draco replied, continuing running.

'Wait!' she called as she tried to catch up with him. 'So you just killed him? What was the point?'

'They expect us to be heartless, Ginny.' He stopped running and turned his head to look at her. 'So we've got to show them that we are.' With that, he grabbed her wrist and apparated the two of them back to outside Hogwarts.

**AN: Sorry it took so long to update, but the next few chapters will be up very shortly. Please review :)**


	13. You shouldn't disobey me, Ginny

A few hours later, Ginny made her way down the empty corridor towards the Great Hall. Most people must have already got there as she had only seen a couple of people on her way. Her stomach rumbled, reminding her of why she was going down there, even though she didn't really want to. She wasn't sure how fast the news would have spread, but from what she knew of Hogwarts, it was likely that everyone knew about her involvement with the Death Eaters by now. When she reached the doors to the Great Hall, she took a deep breath. She had to go in. She had to show them that she didn't care that they hated her.

The second she stepped into the room, she regretted it. A couple of people noticed her, who told others, until the general noise of students talking and laughing had dulled to hushed mutters and whispers. All eyes were on her. She had never realised there were quite so many people in the school before, but even so the room felt smaller than ever. Even the teachers were covertly watching her, even though they weren't as obvious as the students.

Shakily, but defiantly, she took a few steps towards the Gryffindor table. Someone called out at her to go away, prompting others to do the same, and some people stood up and left. But far worse than the shouting were the icy glares and disappointed faces of those she once would have called her friends. The first person whom she noticed wasn't looking at her had his back to her, head hunched over her plate. Ginny could tell from the red hair so similar to her own that it was Ron. Beside him was the bushy brown hair that told her Hermione wasn't looking at her either. Her eyes scanned over the Gryffindor table until she met the gaze of Ellen, who looked down at her plate the second they made eye contact. Amy reacted in the same way, but Dan just looked back at her sadly. Ginny felt like she had been stabbed.

The sound of Blaise's voice woke Ginny from her trance.

'Oi! Ginny!' he called from the Slytherin table. 'Come over here!'

She looked over at him; he was standing so he stood out from the benches of Slytherins, and wearing a grin in stark contrast to everyone else in the room. She was tempted to go over to him, to sit and eat dinner with the Slytherins, just to rub it in the Gryffindors' faces and show them how little she cared about what they thought of her. But she felt too weary from the events of the day for any more emotional defiance.

Looking to the left of Blaise, she made eye contact with Draco, who sat looking at her. At first she thought his face was as expressionless as usual, but after a couple of seconds she noticed his lips were turned up just a tiny bit at the edges in a smile. She glared back at him, feeling anger rush through her. It was his fault this was happening and all he could do was sit there and fucking smile.

With one more glance at the Gryffindor table – most of the occupants had resumed eating, but still spoke in low voices – Ginny turned on her heel and strode from the room with as much dignity as she could muster.

*

Holding a plate of food in his hand, Draco made his way up to the Room of Requirement, knowing exactly where Ginny had gone after storming out of the Great Hall. He had left it about a quarter of an hour before going up to see her, thinking it best to allow her some time to calm down, but he didn't doubt she would still be angry at him.

Not that he cared.

Cautiously, he opened the door to the room with his free hand. Ginny was lying on the sofa, one leg stretched out to the other end, the other dangling over the edge. She held a book up in front of her, which she lowered to her lap when he came in.

'I'm not hungry anymore,' she mumbled.

'You're welcome,' Draco replied, pointedly, holding out the plate for her to take.

Placing the book on the floor beside her, Ginny sat up in the sofa and just looked at the plate in his hands, not taking it from him. With a sigh, he gave up and put it on the desk.

He picked up the abandoned book and asked, 'What's this you're reading?'

'The great thing about books,' Ginny said, 'is that they come with a title on the front and on the back there's an explanation if you still don't understand.'

'Alright, calm down.' Draco turned the book over in his hands to see the cover. It was a book about the most notable Quidditch matches of the past decade.

'Don't tell me to calm down.'

'Don't tell me what not to do.'

'Draco, what the hell is wrong with you?' Ginny demanded.

Draco didn't look up from the book, instead opening it and scanning the first page. 'Actually, nothing, it turns out perfection is possible after all.'

Ginny snatched the book out of his hands and threw it furiously to the floor. 'Look at me, you prick!'

Slowly Draco lifted his head to look at her, his face expressionless as usual, and asked calmly, 'Are you going to pick that up?'

'No I'm not.'

'Is there a reason for this fit you're having?'

Ginny pointed accusingly as him. 'You think I don't know you're the reason _everybody hates me_?'

'To be honest, Ginny, it was only a matter of time until they saw your many character flaws.'

'You think this is a _joke?_' Ginny challenged, her fists clenched so tight her fingers were white. 'Who did you tell?'

'Most of the Slytherins.'

Ginny frowned in fury and confusion. 'Why?'

With a shrug, Draco said, 'Why not?'

'What the fuck? Did you think it wouldn't get out? Are you really that stupid?' Ginny paused for a moment and her expression changed, as if she had just realised something. Her voice was quieter when she accused, 'This is because I broke up with you, isn't it?'

Draco rolled his eyes, standing up to retrieve his book. 'I told you Ginny, you didn't break up with me because we were never in a relationship.'

'You did this for revenge, didn't you? That's so pathetic. Did I hurt your feelings, Draco?' she said mockingly. 'Are you a little bitter because I came here instead of doing what you said and staying at the Manor like a good little witch?'

Draco just shook his head.

'You do realise you just lost your spy in the DA?' Ginny pointed out. 'You wasted that in an attempt to upset me. I'll get over everyone hating me – you've managed it for years, so I'm sure I can. But what will the Dark Lord think of you spilling secrets?'

Draco put the book on the desk with a little more force than he intended to. 'You're right,' he muttered, feeling the lie come easily to him, 'I did it to teach you a lesson. You think you can just be a bitch to me and get away with it? I warned you Ginny, not to leave Malfoy Manor.'

'So you did all of this just to make a point?'

'Yes,' Draco lied. 'You shouldn't disobey me, Ginny.'

'You are _such _a power-obsessed moron.'

'Why are you really upset that your secret's out?' Draco enquired. 'Surely you didn't think it would stay secret forever? Not even you are that stupid.'

Ginny glared back at him but didn't say anything.

'You're not really bothered that you can't spy anymore, are you?' he pressed. 'You're upset because now everyone hates you.'

'I don't care.'

'Liar.' Draco laughed softly. 'Anyway, at least now you can make friends with the Slytherins.'

'Great,' Ginny replied sarcastically, folding her arms across her chest.

'You need to,' he informed her. 'You need connections and allies. You might not have any friends but at least you'll have respect. You're on our side now, Ginny, you can't cling to your past anymore.'

Ginny was looking more and more like a child being told off by a parent – her arms crossed angrily and her stare adamantly focused on the floor.

'You're only upset because now there's no turning back.'

After a pause, Ginny mumbled, 'I still fucking hate you for this.'

'Yeah, like I care.'

There was another silence, until eventually Ginny stormed out of the room.

**AN: Reviews would be lovely :)**


	14. Just shut up and get in bed

'You've had a busy day,' Blaise commented when Draco arrived at his dormitory.

'What are you doing in my room?' Draco asked, not stopping to look at Blaise, instead striding over to the bed and sitting down heavily.

Blaise leant back in the chair by the desk, where he'd been sitting for the past ten minutes. 'Waiting for you.'

'That's creepy,' Draco remarked as he kicked off his shoes and swung his legs onto the bed, leaning back against the headboard.

'I bet the DA are annoyed you escaped.'

'Undoubtedly. They're really a useless organisation; we may have lost our spy there but at least we've discovered they're no threat.'

There was a pause before Blaise asked, with uncharacteristic caution, 'Why did you tell people the truth about her being on our side? You must have known they would have reacted like this.'

Draco sighed. 'Why do you think?'

'To annoy Ginny?'

'No, Blaise.'

Blaise's eyes widened as the truth dawned on him. 'Morris?' he exclaimed.

Draco just nodded.

'You did that just because of that one threat?' Blaise had sat up in surprise. 'Since when have you done things for Ginny's benefit?'

'Don't you dare tell her,' Draco ordered. 'As far as she knows, I just did it to piss her off.'

Frowning, Blaise reclined in the chair again. 'You're so abnormal.'

'Oh, am I?'

'Yes! You're deliberately hiding a nice action just so you don't appear nice.'

'I don't see your point.'

'What's your problem with her knowing you care?' Blaise demanded.

After a short silence, Draco replied, 'If recognition for being nice was what I wanted, the action wouldn't have been all that nice in the first place, would it?'

'What are you on about?'

'I'm not nice, okay Zabini? Now piss off, I'm going to bed.'

*

Ginny felt her eyes ache from tiredness, the orange light from the flames almost too bright for her throbbing head. When she told the Fat Lady the password, the painted woman seemed reluctant to let her in. Ginny felt hesitant to go in herself, but it had to be done eventually.

She kept her head down as she made her way across the Common Room towards the stairs up to her dormitory. When she reached the top, she heard voices from the other side of the door and knew Amy and Ellen would be in there. When she opened the door, they instantly stopped talking.

'Hi traitor,' Amy greeted.

'I'm just here to get my stuff,' Ginny muttered, avoiding eye contact.

'Good,' Amy said with malice, 'because I don't think I could sleep with you in the room.'

'Whatever.'

'You do remember when Harry saved your life, don't you?'

Ginny didn't reply, instead starting to throw things into her trunk which she had dragged out from under her bed.

'You would have died if it weren't for him,' Amy continued. 'You got yourself into trouble by being a stupid little girl and he saved you. And you repay him like that?'

'Yup.' Ginny collected her schoolbooks from beside her bed and tossed them into the trunk on top of the mound of clothes.

Amy was standing by her bed, looking down at her with a disgusted look on her face. 'Is it true you killed Dean, too?'

'Would you believe me if I said no?'

'I'll never believe anything you say ever again.'

'Then why ask?' Ginny glanced up at Ellen who was sitting on her bed, watching her in silence, her expression sad and regretful.

'Do you even care about what you put us through?' Amy demanded. 'We were so worried about you when we thought Malfoy had kidnapped you. Your own father was so scared for you that he risked his life for you.'

'Yes, and that was stupid of him,' Ginny said in a monotone. 'He knew he would be killed.'

Amy's mouth hung open in shock. 'You heartless bitch! How can you be like this?'

Ginny stood up, facing Amy, a defiant look on her face. 'Amy, I know you hate me, and I don't really care. You ask me how I can be like this? Well, let's have a look at our situations, shall we? I'm a Death Eater. I have one of the richest wizarding families in Britain providing for me. I have the protection of the Dark Lord. I can do pretty much whatever I want. What about you, Amy? What have you got? A muggle mother, no power, and the punishment of death if you rebel. Who do you think I would rather be?'

Taking deep breaths, Ginny tried to calm her racing heart. She half-hated herself for saying these things, for being like this. She couldn't shut down her emotions like Draco could, as much as she wished she could, but this was the only way she could think of to stop her own pain. She watched her former friend's shoulders droop slightly under the weight of her words – she knew as well as Ginny did that her muggle mother was likely to cause her a lot of problems while Voldemort was in power.

A glace over to Ellen sent a jolt to her brain as she saw a teardrops glisten in her eyes.

Quickly, Ginny turned away. Grabbing only the essentials – her pyjamas, her toothbrush and her hairbrush, to name a few – she departed from the room with the words, 'I'll get the rest of my stuff later. Goodbye.'

*

After waiting a while, Ginny had eventually met a younger Slytherin on his way into the dungeons, who she had stopped and asked to send out Blaise. She leant her head back against the cold stone wall as she waited, trying to ignore how horrible it was to feel unwelcome at Hogwarts for the first time in her life.

'Ginny?'

She looked up at the sound of Blaise's voice, just in time to see him emerge through a door that appeared on the bare wall. 'Hey Blaise.'

'What are you doing down here? Are you alright?'

Ginny laughed softly. 'Yeah, I'm great.'

'Oh yeah, you're the most hated person in the school right about now, aren't you?'

'Thanks for the reminder.'

'I'm impressed,' Blaise said. 'You've actually overtaken Draco in hatred in just a few hours.'

'It's not something I'm particularly proud of,' she smiled, 'but any victory over him is pretty fun.'

'So why did call me out here? Other than to appreciate my gorgeous face, obviously.'

'I,' Ginny began awkwardly, fidgeting with the pyjamas in her hands. 'I'm really not welcome in my dormitory at the moment.'

'Oh…' Blaise seemed to understand where she was going with this.

'Can you let me in? I know I'm not a Slytherin, but I was going to see Draco and…' she trailed off.

'I don't know, Ginny, are you sure?' Blaise looked uncertain. 'I mean, obviously I'd love you to join us, but I think the other Slytherins might still be a little touchy over the whole Gryffindor thing.'

'Blaise, come on, the Slytherins want to kill me the least out of all the students.'

Nodding, Blaise muttered the password to open the door again and allowed her in after him.

*

'What the hell are you doing here?' Draco demanded when he returned from a shower into his bedroom and found Ginny sitting on his bed wearing red pyjamas and a smirk.

'I'm staying here for a while,' she replied.

'No you aren't,' Draco corrected her. 'This is my room. There's a perfectly good Room of Requirement if you're too much a wimp to sleep in your own room.'

'I can't stay in my own dormitory; if I did I would probably be strangled in my sleep. I considered the Room of Requirement, but it's your fault I couldn't stay in my dorm so you're going to have to suffer the consequences.'

She is so infuriating, he thought to himself as he crossed the room get his pyjama trousers from the chair by the desk.

'Fine,' he called to her as he got changed in the bathroom, 'you can stay here but you're sleeping on the sofa.'

'Fuck off,' she replied with a laugh. 'Not when there's a huge and very comfortable bed right here.'

While he brushed his teeth, Draco considered all the hexes he could use on her, but eventually decided against it as it kind of was his fault she was here anyway, seeing as he made everyone hate her.

He wasn't sorry though.

When he went back into the room, Ginny had pulled the covers over herself and watching him with a grin as he glared at her.

'Get out of my bed and onto the sofa,' he ordered.

Ginny yawned and refused. Seeing him in the green pyjama trousers and his bare chest reminded her of that night she had slept in his room about a year ago. 'Just shut up and get in bed.'

Draco raised an eyebrow. 'Oh, is that how it is?'

'Piss off, Draco, don't get any ideas.'

'Like you don't want me.'

'Shut up.'

Smirking, Draco turned off the light and slid in beside her. He pulled the cover over himself, trying to ignore the fact that he wasn't the only one in the bed.

After a couple of minutes, there was a sharp jab in his back.

'What the hell?' he cried out. In the dark he could hear Ginny giggling. 'I swear, if you do that again I'll kick you out.'

'Night Draco,' Ginny said through stifled laughter.

Draco grunted in reply, turning over and trying to sleep again.

**AN: Please review and let me know what you think! Best bit? Worst bit? Here's a preview of the next chapter:**

_'Draco, this is a really, really bad idea.' Ginny's voice had a hint of panic in it, which Draco had never really heard from her before._

_'I didn't think you were the kind of person who cared what Slytherins thought of you,' Draco observed._


	15. Did you just call me attractive?

Finding it impossible to sleep, Draco lay on his back, one hand behind his head, staring up at the canopy above the bed. The faint sound of Ginny's breathing was the only noise he could hear. He could feel her knee against his leg and her soft hair on his bare shoulder from where she had drowsily curled up closer to him in her sleep.

As he turned his head, letting his cheek rest on the pillow, he considered how this was the first time he'd had a sleeping girl beside him in his bed. Sleep wasn't something he did with other people – it was when he was at his most vulnerable. Never had he felt comfortable enough with anyone to let something like this happen. But here she was, her face so close to his, eyes closed and eyelashes fluttering against her delicate cheeks. Ginny looked much more harmless in this state than usual. Her fiery eyes were hidden and all he could see was her fragile form, helpless in unconsciousness. The faint light of the moon that spilled in through the window was just enough for him to see her.

Draco couldn't believe what she had done to him. Never in a million years did he think he would ever do anything as stupid and dangerous as announce her involvement with the Death Eaters, just because he couldn't stand the idea of her being hurt. Yet as his eyes lingered on her peaceful expression, he acknowledged – to his horror and disgust – that there wasn't a lot he wouldn't do to protect her. This fact made him extremely uncomfortable, not only because it left him very susceptible to manipulation, but because he knew that it was being involved with him that put her in danger in the first place.

He couldn't decide what terrified him more – the thought her being hurt or the fact that he felt this way at all.

Emotion is weakness, he tried to remind himself, but it was no help and even less of a comfort. It was stupid, it was irresponsible and it was dangerous, but it was too late to do anything about it; he'd already fallen for the wretched girl.

He lifted a hand, brushing away a few strands of her hair which had fallen across her face. Without thinking about it, he leant closer and kissed her very softly on her freckled cheek.

I can't believe I just did that, he thought as he let his head sink back into the pillow. He closed his eyes, hoping that not being able to see her would mean he would stop thinking about it. It didn't help, he dreamt of her anyway.

*

Ginny spent the whole of Sunday in Draco's dormitory, eating a small amount of the food he brought her back from meals, being entertained by Blaise and bothering Draco while he tried to write a Potions essay. Late that night, as Draco added the final touches to his essay, she lay on her front across the bed, chin resting on her hands.

'What do you think I'll have to do now I'm not the spy in the DA anymore?' she asked, thoughtfully.

'Nothing,' Draco replied, not looking up from his writing. 'You're now officially useless.'

'So why do you keep me around?'

'It's not voluntary, you won't leave my room.'

Laughing, Ginny rolled over onto her back, putting her hands behind her head. 'The great Draco Malfoy can't even kick one girl out of his dormitory. Your reputation would be destroyed.'

Placing his quill down on the desk, Draco walked to the bed and sat down next to her, looking down at her with a smirk. 'I doubt people would think badly of me after finding out there's an attractive girl desperate to be in my bed.'

Ginny's mouth opened in playful shock. 'Did you just call me attractive?'

Breaking the eye contact, Draco replied, 'Not exactly compliment of the century.'

'From you? It's amazing you managed to say something nice without throwing up.'

'Shut up,' he said with a laugh. 'And don't get used to it.'

Ginny lifted herself up and rested back on her elbows. Raising his head, Draco met her gaze again; he lifted a hand to her face. Ginny felt a tiny shiver down her spine as she looked back into those intense grey eyes and felt his fingers run gently along her jaw.

Draco didn't tell her that he didn't think she was just attractive - she was beautiful. He didn't tell her that she could have him transfixed by just a blink of those eyes, the shake of her hair, the hint of a smile. He didn't tell her how proud he had been of how she got them out of the kidnapping the previous day. Draco Malfoy was not one to say things like that. Instead he just leant forward and kissed her.

Ginny's breath caught in her throat as he pressed his lips against hers. She pulled him closer as he curled his hand around the back of her head. All the anger she felt towards him for spilling their secret melted away as he lifted her carefully and lay her back down so her head was resting on the pillow, and she realised just how much she had missed him. This was unlike any other time he'd kissed her; usually it had been angry and passionate, laced with mind games and smirks. It had never been this tender.

*

Ginny awoke to the bright light of morning streaming through the window. She stretched, catlike, in the bed and rolled over, surprised to see that Draco wasn't in the bed with her. The hiss of the shower told her where he was, so she pulled the duvet up to her chin and decided she could stay in bed a while longer. After the second night in a row sleeping in Draco's bed, she decided she liked it a lot. Not only did he like the boyish scent on the sheets, but she liked knowing he was right next to her all night. Especially now, when he was one of the very few people who vaguely liked her in the whole building, it was a huge comfort. His smirk, his dry remarks and his scent were some of the only hints of normalcy she could cling to at the moment. Not only that, but he seemed to be surprisingly nice at the moment - well, not exactly nice, but less of a bastard than usual.

A few minutes later, when she opened her eyes again, Draco was out of the shower and buttoning up his shirt, his damp hair hanging over his face as he looked down at his hands on the buttons.

'Morning,' she said, her voice a little husky after hours without speaking.

'Why aren't you getting up?' Draco asked, not looking up at her, instead pulling his tie off the handle of the wardrobe where it had been hanging.

'First lesson doesn't start for ages.'

'Impressive observation, Ginny, as always, but largely irrelevant seeing as breakfast is in five minutes.'

Resting her head in her hand, Ginny watched Draco do up his tie with a small smile. 'I love how your wit is just as sharp even when you've only just woken up.'

'I love how you think you'll manage to change the subject that easily.'

With a sigh, Ginny said, 'I'm not going to breakfast.'

'You'll get hungry.'

'Can't you bring me something?' Ginny asked, pleadingly, looking up at him with a hopeful smile.

Predictably, Draco was unaffected by her expression, looking back at her with a raised eyebrow. 'Do I look like a servant?'

'A little.'

Ignoring her reply, Draco put on his robe and strode to the door, picking up his bag from the desk as he passed. Pausing in the doorway, he commented, 'You're going to have to face them in lessons anyway, why not come and eat at the Slytherin table?'

'I can deal with one class at a time. I can't deal with the whole school. Not yet.' Ginny looked down at the bed.

After a moment's silence, Draco said, 'Fine, I'll get you some food. I'll be back soon, and then you're coming with me to Transfiguration. So get dressed, for Merlin's sake.'

**AN: Sorry it's a short ? What do you like, what do you not like? Thanks for reading!**


	16. I’m not afraid to hurt you, Weasley

After five days of keeping her head down in lessons and avoiding meals, Ginny was emotionally exhausted. The thought that had kept her going all week was the idea of being able to withdraw into Draco's dormitory for the weekend. So now Draco was telling her she had to attend the party the Slytherins were throwing after winning the Quidditch match that evening.

'This is so stupid,' Ginny grumbled as they made their way down the corridor. 'I'm not a Slytherin. I wasn't even there at the game!'

'You can't spend your whole life hiding in the library,' Draco replied.

'I wasn't hiding; I was doing a Charms essay.'

'Come on, it'll be fun.'

'Draco, this is a really, really bad idea.' Ginny's voice had a hint of panic in it, which Draco had never really heard from her before.

'I didn't think you were the kind of person who cared what Slytherins thought of you,' Draco observed.

'Well, I don't, but just because I don't care what they think doesn't mean I want deliberately subject myself to their scorn.'

Draco chuckled. 'You'll be fine.'

'I'm going to be humiliated,' Ginny corrected him, slowing down as they grew ever closer to the entrance to the Slytherin Common Room.

Leaning his head towards hers, he murmured in her ear, 'No one will do anything, and if they do they'll have me to answer to.' He placed a hand on the small of her back and gently guided her towards the entrance. If Ginny hadn't been so preoccupied thinking of hexes she could potentially protect herself with, she would have been startled by the act. She couldn't help but feel a little reassured by his comment.

They stepped into the room and Ginny was instantly engulfed by the sound of music, voices and laughter. She wouldn't have moved if Draco hadn't directed her by the hand on her back further into the room. Ginny noticed that they rarely had to move around people, as instead groups parted to let them through, presumably because she was with Draco. Students openly stared at her as she passed them, but she just glared back, hoping she didn't look as uneasy as she felt.

'Ginny!'

She yelped as someone jumped out in front of her and called her name.

'I brought you this,' Blaise informed her as he offered her a bottle of Firewhiskey.

'Oh thank Merlin,' Ginny said gratefully as she grabbed the bottle from his outstretched hand and took a swig. She needed something to do other than looking around and seeing people watching her.

Blaise laughed and said, 'You're eager. Want some, Draco?'

Draco shook his head disappeared into the crowd.

'Feeling good?' Blaise looked at her with raised eyebrows as she gulped down more.

Ginny exhaled slowly before replying, 'I haven't felt this out of place since the dinner party, but I know school children are so much crueller than Death Eaters.'

'Yeah but Ginny,' Blaise said cheerfully, 'you're both of those things! Trust me, they might not show it but they respect you.'

'Well, it doesn't feel that way.' Ginny finished off the bottle.

'Alright, slow down,' Blaise warned brightly as he reached out and took an unopened bottle of Firewhisky from a passing first year before handing it to Ginny.

'Thanks.'

Draco returned and asked Blaise where Pansy was.

With a shrug, Blaise replied, 'Why do you want to talk to her?'

'I don't want to talk to her,' Draco assured him, 'but I think it would be wise to know where she was.' He paused as he noticed Ginny open a bottle and drink from it. 'Is that your second?'

Ginny nodded, a slow smile spreading across her face as she experienced the room blur with every nod.

'Shit, Blaise, she's been here ten minutes and you've already got her intoxicated.'

'She's not intoxicated yet,' Blaise objected with a grin.

'Yeah, Draco,' Ginny agreed, pointing a finger at him.

'See?'

For the following hour, Ginny relied on Blaise keeping her laughing to distract her from her discomfort. Periodically Draco would introduce her to someone, at which point she was to greet them with a handshake and a smile. She rarely received the latter in return.

By the time Blaise disappeared to go to the loo, Ginny had finished off another four bottles of Firewhiskey, and was now enjoying the sensation of the world blurring around her. She could no longer see the disapproving looks of the Slytherins, or read on their lips their derisive comments. The music muffled in her ears to a dull noise and all she could distinguish was the beat.

Suddenly she felt herself be tugged backwards, and she let out a surprised yelp at the sudden movement. As she struggled to orientate herself her vision focussed on a furious looking girl before her. Ginny vaguely recognised her as Pansy Parkinson. Her mouth was moving so Ginny concentrated hard to understand the noise. Gradually the sound separated into understandable words.

'What do you think _you're _doing here?' she was demanding, her hands on her hips.

'Draco brought me,' Ginny replied, frowning slightly.

'_Draco?_' she repeated, indignantly.

Ginny nodded.

'You don't belong here.'

'I don't want to be here,' Ginny admitted, beginning to move away but the girl grabbed her arm and stopped her.

'Everyone else might be taken in by stories of whatever you did to Potter,' Pansy said maliciously, 'but I don't care. You're still a Gryffindor. And you're still a _Weasley._'

'Yeah, I know that.' Ginny wondered why she was telling her this.

'Listen, you ugly bitch.' Pansy's grip tightened on her arm. 'Stay away from Draco. He's not ever going to be interested in you so just back off.'

Ginny laughed and responded, 'Oh I get it, you're jealous because you think we're a couple? What makes you think that, was it his hand on my back?'

Pansy was now gripping Ginny's arm so hard that her nails dug into her flesh.

Leaning towards her, Ginny whispered, 'Want to know where else his hands have been?'

A loud crack resounded in Ginny's as a hand was struck across her face. Her head was thrown to the side and she bent over slightly; when she straightened up again she was laughing with one hand cupping her injured cheek. Pansy was about to attack again when someone got in between them with his back to Ginny. It was Blaise.

'Chill, Pansy,' he soothed her, completely unaffected when she tried to shove him out of the way.

Ginny was still chuckling when a voice murmured in her ear, 'Come with me.' Someone took her hand and led her up some stairs into a different room.

The stinging of her cheek had dulled to a throb but her head had started to hurt.

'Hey Ginny,' came the voice again. Ginny looked at the speaker and was disgusted to find it was Graham Morris.

'What do _you _want,' she asked, sitting down on the bed because her head was so clouded she didn't think it safe to stand.

He moved closer until he stood in front of her and smiled menacingly. 'Just relax.'

Ginny flinched away from him as he tried to slide his hand under her shirt.

'What the fuck are you doing?' she demanded, pushing his hand away. Her eyes widened as he pressed his wand into the side of her neck.

'I'm in a very powerful position, Weasley,' he snarled. 'My father's a Death Eater, you know?' He chuckled. 'Of course you do…'

'Why would I care about that?' She instinctively moved her neck away from the wand but he used his other hand to hold it still.

'Well,' he slid the hand on her head down to her shoulder, 'I believe you still have one parent alive? We wouldn't want anything to happen to her now, would we?'

'You bastard,' Ginny hissed.

'Feisty,' Morris noted, his fingers starting to undo her top button. He muttered, more to himself than to her, 'Malfoy thought he could stop me doing this with his stupid plan. Turns out he was wrong.'

When Ginny asked him what he meant he just laughed and said, 'He didn't tell you?'

'I'm warning you Morris,' she glared at him, 'you'll regret it if you touch me.'

Morris laughed. 'What are you going to do to me?'

Suddenly, Ginny lashed out at him, punching him hard in the side of the head. He cried out and stumbled back, allowing her to jump to her feet.

Looking much less amused and much angrier, Morris aimed his wand at her again and barked, 'What, do you think I'm joking, bitch?'

'No, I just think you're a slimy, cowardly piece of shit,' she retorted, her head feeling clearer by the second.

'Crucio!'

Ginny screamed for just a second before she managed to stop herself – she wasn't going to give him the pleasure. She tensed every muscle in her body against the crippling pain that flooded over her, but still it was enough to force her to her knees. When it stopped she was panting for breath, and could feel a warm trickle of blood from where she had bitten her lip.

'I'm not afraid to hurt you, Weasley,' he said with a laugh. 'Stop risking your mother's life and don't fight me.' He advanced on her, and she just stared back at him defiantly.

'Take off your shirt,' he ordered. When she did nothing he yelled, 'Take it off or I'll do it again!'

She just laughed.

'Crucio!'

**AN: Cliffhanger! Review? **

**Preview of the next chapter:**

_Morris lifted his head off the floor slightly to look at Ginny and stammered, 'Sorry. I'm sorry.'_

_Ginny just stared back at him._


	17. You could be a little more sympathetic

Ginny shuffled backwards as Morris collapsed onto the floor, writhing and screaming in pain, revealing Draco who was standing behind him. He was pointing his wand at the thrashing body of Morris. He suddenly stopped the curse.

'You think it's fun to threaten people, do you?' Draco accused Morris, who was now curled up in a ball, groaning. 'Crucio!'

Ginny slid further backwards across the floor until her back was against the bed and wrapped her arms around her knees. Silently she watched Morris squirm in agony from the jet of light streaming from Draco's wand. Draco himself was standing over Morris, regarding him with an intense glare, his wand arm aiming straight down at the boy. This time when he stopped, Morris clawed at the floor, attempting to drag himself away, but Draco kicked at his hand, causing him to withdraw it.

'Draco,' Morris groaned breathlessly. 'Stop, please. Please.'

'Don't beg me, you prick, apologise to Ginny.'

Morris lifted his head off the floor slightly to look at Ginny and stammered, 'Sorry. I'm sorry.'

Ginny just stared back at him.

When Draco aimed his wand at Morris again, Morris yelped, 'No! No Draco, please, I said sorry. I said sorry!'

'Shut up. You think that just because your father's a Death Eater that somehow makes you important? You think you can do things like this and get away with it?' Draco's voice was lower now; he'd recovered from his earlier display of fury and his expression was back under his control.

'No… no….'

'You're pathetic,' Draco spat, before lowering his wand and turning to Ginny. 'Come with me.'

Ginny got to her feet and followed him to the door. Just before they left, he called to the moaning Morris, 'If you move a single centimetre before I get back I swear to God I will kill you.'

He led Ginny to his own dormitory, through the crowd of people who had stopped the party to listen to what had happened. Slamming the door behind him, he turned to her and asked, 'Did he cut your lip?'

Ginny shook her head, wiping the blood away with the back of her hand. 'I did it when he put me under the curse.'

Lifting a hand to her cheek, Draco wiped away the remaining blood with his thumb. 'I'm sorry,' he murmured. 'I should never have brought you here.'

'You do realise you just apologised, don't you?' She smiled.

He rolled his eyes. 'Can you just accept it so we can move on?'

'Fine, I accept it. Thanks for helping me out.' She paused, then hurriedly added, 'Not that I didn't have it all under control.'

Stroking her cheek slightly, he replied, 'My pleasure.'

'Draco,' she began, frowning a little, 'he said something about how you thought you could stop him doing this with a plan or something? What did he mean?'

His arm dropped back to his side. 'I don't know.'

'Tell me.'

'I said, I don't know.'

'You're lying.'

'You're guessing.'

The door opened and Blaise entered. 'I'm so sorry, Draco,' he babbled, 'I swear I turned my back for one second and Pansy was there and she hit her so I had to stop her and… Don't point your wand at me, you knob, if you hadn't pissed Pansy and Morris off so much this never would have happened anyway.'

Draco seemed to think this was reasonable, as he lowered his wand and said, 'Look after her for a second; I need to go and deal with Morris. Try to actually look after her this time.'

'Oh piss off, I tried.'

Ginny sat down on the bed, feeling shaky from the alcohol, the curse and her encounter with Morris.

Smiling sheepishly, Blaise said, 'Sorry, Ginny.'

After forgiving him, she asked what she had asked Draco about what Morris had meant.

Blaise frowned. 'Why did you think Draco told everyone about you?'

'He said he just did it to annoy me.'

With a laugh, Blaise revealed, 'Yeah, he was lying, Ginny. Morris said he would do this and if Draco tried to stop him, he would tell everyone the truth. So Draco did it for him.'

Ginny just stared at him for a moment. Eventually she said, 'For God's sake, the one time he does something nice for me and he doesn't even tell me.'

'He prefers it that way.'

'He'd rather I thought he had done it to be cruel than done it to be kind?'

'Yeah.'

'What the hell is wrong with that boy?' Ginny shook her head in disbelief.

With a shrug, Blaise replied, 'He doesn't like it when people know he cares.'

'No wonder he never managed to keep a girlfriend for more than a week.'

'He never really wanted to.' Blaise paused for a moment before continuing, 'The problem is girls are attracted to him because of how he acts, but then they expect him to change. And he's not going to change for anyone.'

'I've noticed,' Ginny grumbled.

'Maybe that's why he likes you,' Blaise suggested, 'because even though you tell him he's a twat, you never seriously ask him to stop being one.'

There was a silence until Ginny commented, 'So I guess not even the Slytherins like me.'

'Oh come on, one guy molests you and you think the whole house is against you,' Blaise said with a smile.

'You're right, I'm overreacting, obviously glaring is the Slytherin equivalent of shaking hands.'

Blaise absently picked up a closed pot of ink and started throwing it between his hands as he stated, 'It could have gone worse.'

'I've been abused physically, mentally and sexually in one night, you could be a little more sympathetic,' Ginny remarked.

The door opened so suddenly that Blaise dropped the pot of ink he had been throwing.

'Oh dear,' he murmured as it shattered on the floor and ink splattered everywhere.

Draco looked at the black ink and shards of glass strewn across the floor and said, 'If you're done vandalising my room, Blaise, could you clear that up and then get lost?'

With a flick of Blaise's wand the mess was gone and he bounded out of the room, pausing only to turn to Ginny and say, 'Careful, I think he's in a bad mood. Probably not a good time to tell him about the great sex we just enjoyed.'

Taking a deep breath, Draco said nothing until the door was closed. 'I knew I should have ditched him when he set fire to my bed in the first year.'

'What stopped you?' Ginny asked. 'Was it his good looks and charm?'

'Actually I think he just refused to take the hint even when I didn't talk to him for a month. It didn't stop him talking to me.'

Ginny looked up at him with a smile, but he wasn't looking at her; his head was turned away and he was gazing into the opposite corner of the room.

'Draco,' Ginny tried to get his attention, but he still didn't look at her so she carried on, 'I haven't thanked you yet. So… thanks.'

'You're welcome.'

'I know I shouldn't have gone with him, it was stupid,' she said quietly. 'Well, I shouldn't have been so drunk anyway…'

'No,' Draco interrupted, 'it was too early. You weren't ready for this yet. They weren't ready for you.'

Ginny studied him with a frown; his wand was still held loosely in his hand, and although he wasn't facing her, she could just about make out from his profile that his brow was furrowed, as if thinking. His hair hung forwards into his eyes as his head was tilted downwards slightly. Her eyes moved to his wand, wondering what spells he had cast with it while she and Blaise had been talking.

'Did you kill him?' she asked.

He looked at her for the first time in the conversation. 'No.'

Ginny was aware that his tone had sounded a bit surprised – not at the question, but as his answer.

'Blaise told me the real reason why you spilled my secret to everyone,' she blurted out, unable to think of a way to do it subtly.

Draco held her gaze and replied steadily, 'So did I: to teach you a lesson.'

Ginny sighed. 'Draco, I know that's not true.'

Finally turning away, Draco focussed on his hand as he ran it along the back of the chair in front of the desk.

'Why didn't you just tell me?' Ginny questioned, eyes searching his expression for a hint of what he was thinking but as usual she had no idea.

'Would you have believed me?' Draco eventually countered.

'Of course.'

Draco smiled slightly at the hesitation before her reply. 'You seemed to believe quite easily the story I gave you.'

'Can you blame me?'

'Alright, no need to be so defensive,' he glanced up at her, his hand stilling on the chair. 'It doesn't matter anyway, it didn't do any good.'

'I'm grateful anyway,' Ginny murmured. 'The fact that you were willing to risk so much for me means a lot.'

She noticed his fingers clench slightly on the wooden back of the chair. The atmosphere was so tense and she realised her heart was racing, but she didn't know exactly why.

'Don't mention it,' Draco finally said, taking a seat on the chair.

To lighten the mood, Ginny said, 'Well, Merry Christmas, Draco, I expect I won't see you on the actual day.'

'Are you going to go home for the holidays?' he asked, looking up to meet her eyes with a hint of a smile on his lips.

'That would be interesting,' Ginny said with a laugh. 'No, I suppose I'll be spending Christmas here, I haven't really got anywhere else.'

After a pause, Draco suggested, 'Come to Malfoy Manor.'

Ginny looked at him – there was a rare, genuine expression on his face and she thought for a second there might not be an ulterior motive in his mind. Even if there wasn't, she thought, would it be a good idea? She related the Manor with arguing with him, would it risk the relatively harmonious period in their friendship they were in at that moment? After considering it she replied, 'No thanks, I should probably make the most of Hogwarts with a lot fewer people here to hate me.

Draco shrugged. 'Whatever.'

There was an awkward pause which Ginny interrupted by suggesting they go to bed, which he agreed to.

***

Draco had left the bedroom while Ginny got ready for bed, going back to the common room which was recovering from the party. A couple of students from the younger years were clearing up the mess – levitating or summoning bottles into a pile which Draco assumed someone more capable would get rid of later. Most Slytherins had retired to bed, but a few were still milling around the room, lounging on sofas or on the floor. Amongst those on the sofa was Pansy, who Draco met the glare of. He groaned as she made her way over to him.

'What are you doing out here?' she asked when she reached him. 'Isn't the Weasley girl waiting for you in bed?'

Draco rolled his eyes. 'She's got nowhere else to stay, Pansy.'

'How about her own fucking bed?'

'How about you treat her with the respect she deserves?' Draco suggested.

Pansy didn't answer, instead just pouting sulkily.

'What did you do to her earlier?' he asked, his voice low but assured.

Pansy fidgeted a little, looking up at him in an attempt at seeming innocent, and replied, 'Just trying to put her back in her place. To give her some advice on how to act.'

'You hit her.'

'She was asking for it.'

'I'll only say this once, Parkinson, so listen carefully: you will accept Ginny being here because it's the only place she can go. Besides, she deserves to be here more than most people in this house. Don't interrupt me, Pansy, it's true. When was the last time you did anything for the Dark Lord? Secondly, you will treat her as she deserves to be treated. That means no patronising, violence or even scathing remarks. Thirdly, it's not her fault we're not together anymore, so stop being so fucking bitter.'

Pansy's mouth fell open a little in shock but she managed to compose herself to snap, 'Fine,' and flounce back to her friends.

**AN: Good old Draco saving the day. Let me know what you think in a lovely review? No preview this time, sorry!**


	18. Weasley, your life stops without me

Finding it hard to concentrate on the essay she was supposed to be writing, Ginny found herself gazing through the misted up window. A layer of snow coated the ground, trails of footprints telling of when students had walked there. Two days into the Christmas holidays and she hadn't even felt a snowflake fall onto her face. Playing in the snow was a much less appealing idea when she had no one to enjoy it with.

She couldn't help but think back to when Draco had said goodbye, standing by the door of the dormitory they had come to share, his trunk hovering mid-air behind him.

'I'll see you in a couple of weeks then,' he had said, not meeting her eye and seeming unsure of what to do.

'Yeah,' she replied, feeling slightly awkward due to the amount of things that she knew should be said that weren't. 'I'd walk you to the station but recently I've found it easier to just avoid crowded places.'

'Oh suck it up. You've got to learn to deal with it or you'll stay pathetic forever.'

'Merlin, I'm going to miss this you know,' she retorted sarcastically.

'So come back with me,' Draco ordered.

Ginny looked up at him with a slight smile. 'It's tempting; I did have a whale of a time there before with your charming personality and your delightful mother.'

'Your sarcasm is so unconvincing you know.'

'Is that so?'

'Yes,' Draco informed her. 'I know you want to come back, no matter how many derisive comments you make about my home.'

'What makes you so sure?'

'Because,' he took a step closer before continuing in a murmur, 'you love me.'

Ginny raised an eyebrow.

'Don't deny it,' he smirked, lowering his head towards hers a little. 'I know it. When I leave you'll miss me like crazy.'

'I wouldn't count on it.'

'Face it, Weasley, your life stops without me.'

'You're right, that explains why I… what was it I did again? Oh yeah, escaped from your house and then dumped you.'

Draco suddenly stood up straight. 'You did not _dump _me,' he snapped.

'I see your huge ego is still keeping you in denial.'

'Thank God you refused to come back; I would have been forced to kick you out before Christmas anyway.'

'I'm pretty sure the last time I was there it was because you'd kidnapped me and had to lock me up to make me stay.'

'Don't be ridiculous, you only left because I forbade you to.'

'Oh yeah, nothing to do with the verbal abuse or anything.'

'That's what made you stay for so long.'

'Can you hurry up and go please, I'm sick of the sight of you.'

Draco paused for a moment, regarding her with a glint in his eye that made Ginny want to smile. Eventually he said, 'I give it two days before you miss me.'

As it turned out, it had barely been one day and Ginny already wanted him back. As much as it irked her to admit, even to herself, Draco had become pretty much the only thing at Hogwarts that didn't seem like a chore. Obviously she was going to stick it out – there was no way she was just going to run away from it - but school was just not much fun anymore. Her friends and family were against her, she wasn't welcome in her own house common room and even the teachers avoided looking her in the eyes. Despite all this change though, with everything turning miserable, Draco and their verbal duels were the only constant. Now he'd gone too, the castle felt completely alien to her.

Of course, it was much easier with it being the Christmas holidays – most of the other students were actually wanted at home, so the school was largely empty, besides those who had chosen to stay. She found herself able to eat at the Gryffindor table again, albeit alone, and the jeers and comments in the corridors had been reduced to just disapproving stares or cold indifference.

Without any lessons to go to, she found herself spending most of her time in Draco's dormitory or in the library – the only plus of the whole situation was that her grades had massively improved through all the extra studying.

The silence was broken by a hungry grumbling from her tummy, reminding her that it was time for dinner. She packed away her work into her bag, slinging it over her shoulder and making her way to the Great Hall.

As was usual at this time, the hall was decorated with majestic Christmas trees that seemed far too grand for the small number of students in the room. Candles hovered above the tables, unaffected by the magical snow falling from the ceiling.

Ginny took a seat near one end of the Gryffindor table, by herself as she was now used to. She had almost finished eating when Luna Lovegood and Neville Longbottom arrived; they must not have noticed her as they sat only a few seats away from her, Neville on the Gryffindor table, Luna on the Ravenclaw table, but facing each other. Luna had stayed at the castle over Christmas because her father was on the run from the Death Eaters after publishing anti-Voldemort articles in the Quibbler, and Neville had decided to stay to keep her company rather than go home to his grandmother.

Their serious tones alerted Ginny to the fact that they were discussing something important. They were too distracted to notice her presence and so they continued their conversation. Ginny allowed her hair to fall over her face, although she knew the colour was very recognisable so she just had to hope they didn't look up and see her.

Straining her ears, she could just about make out what they were saying.

'Why him?' Luna was asking Neville.

'He's becoming quite an important Death Eater. Plus Malfoy is close to him so hopefully we can get him too.'

Ginny's attention because more focussed at the mention of Draco. This must be something to do with the DA – what were they planning?

'I didn't think Malfoy could be close to anyone,' Luna commented, dreamily. 'It's a shame really, maybe if he'd had better friends he would be a better person now.'

Ginny held back a smile at this comment, trying to work out who it was they were talking about.

'I know it's surprising but we think maybe Malfoy would try and save him,' Neville replied. 'If not, it's still another Death Eater we'll have got to I guess.'

'We aren't going to kill him, are we?'

There was a pause before Neville answered, 'That's what Malfoy would do if it was the other way around.'

'Where are we going to take him?'

'Probably the Burrow, that's where the others are going this week; it's still got some pretty strong defensive spells on it.'

Ginny suddenly realised with a jolt who they must be talking about – Blaise Zabini. The DA really was useless; trust Neville and Luna to talk about their plans in public.

Their conversation lasted a couple more minutes, although on a different subject, then they finished their meals and left the hall.

Her mind reeling slightly, Ginny left the room herself, heading back to Draco's dormitory. She sat on the bed, the third night he'd been gone, and realised to her annoyance that he had been right, she did miss him. But now, not only did she miss him but she also really, really needed to talk to him.

**AN: Sorry this has taken so long. Thanks to insanity75 for reminding me to continue. Hope you enjoyed this chapter and please review!**

**Preview of the next chapter:**

_Draco studied her for a moment. 'You've been crying.'_

_'Do you see any tears?' she demanded._

_'I don't need to.'_


	19. Don't smirk at me

Sitting on Draco's bed, Ginny wiped the tears away from her cheeks, unable to explicitly say why they were falling. She wasn't sure whether it was the loneliness, the fear for Blaise or missing Draco that had caused them – she didn't want to look too deeply into her feelings unless she discovered it was the latter.

Maybe it was because it had been a while since she had had absolutely no idea what to do.

Should she owl Draco to let him know the DA's plan? That seemed quite risky – owls could be intercepted, and regardless, there was no guarantee it would arrive. So should she go to Malfoy Manor and tell him in person? Quite selfishly, she rejected this idea; it was important to avoid letting Draco think he had won. Was there any other way she could contact him?

As she considered this, the unexpected happened. The dormitory door burst open, revealing a figure standing in the doorway with a calm stillness that contrasted starkly with the forceful opening of the door. Ginny stared at the visitor in stunned silence.

'What's wrong with your face?' he demanded eventually.

Typical, Ginny grumbled in her head. Only Draco could arrive unannounced and then act like she was stupid for not expecting him.

'What the hell are you _doing_ here?' she snapped.

Draco studied her for a moment. 'You've been crying.'

'Of course I haven't.'

'Don't lie to me.'

'Do you see any tears?' she demanded.

'I don't need to.'

Turning away from him in case there was any evidence of her tears on her face, she stared at the ground. Feigning a light-hearted tone, she said, 'Why are you back so soon? I was really looking forward to weeks without you, this is such a disappointment.'

Ignoring her words, Draco strode over to the bed and stood in front of her. Refusing to look up, Ginny kept her gaze fixed on his feet.

'Oh right, you missed me. I should have known you couldn't survive a few days,' she said. She could feel his stare burning into her but refused to look up. The idea of Draco seeing her cry made her feel so pathetic and vulnerable to his derision.

'Why are you upset?' he asked, his tone more demanding than compassionate. Trust Draco to not even appear caring when he was trying to find out why she was crying.

'Don't you have excessive amounts of Christmas presents waiting to be opened? The lovely Narcissa will be wondering where her spoilt brat is.'

Ginny gasped with shock as Draco's fingers gripped her chin and forced her head up to look at him. She leapt to her feet, slapping his hand away and glaring at him. 'Don't touch me,' she exclaimed, shoving him away as he tried to reach out to her again.

'Why won't you just explain what's wrong?' Draco challenged. 'Why are you being so defensive?'

'I'm always defensive around you, Malfoy, it's the only way to survive.'

Draco stilled, stunned by her use of his last name. After a pause, he snapped, 'So I go away for two days and you regress to this?'

'What do you care?' Ginny retorted.

'Oh believe me, I don't.'

'Is there a reason you came back or did you just want to piss me off?'

For a moment he stared at her, jaw clenched and eyes narrowed, before he shook his head and turned to leave.

'Oh fine, just leave again then. Merry fucking Christmas.'

Suddenly, Draco whirled back around and gripped Ginny's wrist, pulling her towards him.

'Get off me,' Ginny muttered through gritted teeth as she tried to pull herself free but he just drew her closer.

'Can I just remind you, Ginny, that I have done nothing wrong. All I did was turn up and you reacted like I had wronged you.'

'I,' she tried to speak, but Draco cut her off.

'I do not appreciate this kind of treatment. So either tell me what's upset you so I can fix it, or stop being such a bitch and suck it up.'

Ginny's breathing became heavy as she stared back into his icy eyes, now so close to hers. She blinked a few times, repeating what he had said in her mind. He had expressed a desire to fix the problem – in his own weird, aggressive way, he was trying to show he cared.

'I missed you, okay?' she eventually murmured. She felt his grip on her wrist loosen, leaving it throbbing slightly. 'You left and I didn't know what to do. Everyone else is so hard to deal with when you're not here to distract me. And then when things start to go wrong and you're not here I just… I need you.' Talking fast now, she felt stupid for telling him these things and knew he would just mock her for it later but it had to be said. She was very aware of his fingers grazing her arm as they moved up from her wrist to her shoulder, but she babbled on regardless. 'And I'm so angry at you for making me feel like this. I'm even angrier at myself for letting you do it. And then you just turned up, out of nowhere, and I'm sorry for reacting how I did but…'

Draco tenderly stroked two fingers along her jaw, lips turned up slightly at the edges.

'Don't smirk at me,' Ginny snapped. 'I'm opening up here, stop finding it amusing.'

'You idiot. I came back because I missed you,' he admitted, and kissed her before she could reply.

'Really?' she breathed, when he eventually stopped.

'Strangely, yes. It's just not the same without you. I miss arguing with you, I miss when you shout insults at me like you think I care, I miss winding you up…'

'You charmer,' she laughed.

He smiled slightly. There were other things he missed, of course, things he wouldn't say. He missed her smile, her familiar scent as he fell asleep and seeing her beautiful hair when he woke up. But he hated to even think those things, let alone say them out loud.

Shaking those thoughts from his head, he stated, 'You're coming back to Malfoy Manor with me now, there's no arguing. My mother's there, you'll be pleased to know. Oh, and Blaise.'

Ginny's eyes widened as she remembered the other reason she had been upset. 'Was he there when you left?' she asked, hurriedly.

Draco frowned at her abrupt change of tone, but regardless he answered, 'No, he went out to take care of something. Why?'

'The DA, they're going to kidnap him. We have to go.' She moved away from him, collecting things from the dormitory as fast as she could.

'What? How do you know?'

'I overheard them talking,' she explained brusquely, disappearing into the bathroom to retrieve her toiletries.

'Surely not even they are stupid enough to talk about plans like that so openly. It must be a trap,' Draco asserted.

'Do you want to risk Blaise's life on that reasoning?'

After a hesitation, Draco shook his head.

'So let's go and do something about it.'

**A/N: Reviews would be wonderful :)**


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